cyphercat wrote:sozobe wrote:Great article about them in the New Yorker recently, looked it up a couple of weeks ago and wasn't online yet, will keep an eye out for it.
That article was so interesting! I thought the part about the focus group with the little girls playing with Bratz was so revealing-- despite the package blurbs about the Bratz and their all-night Vegas parties, what hip, rockin' trendy thing do the girls have them do? .........Tea party.
I think it's interesting that the girls in the article rejected the adult idea of entertainment and went about having a tea party. That's what I would like to see a study on - if girls are raised in a normal, loving environment, with healthy values do all the negative commercial messages slide away like water off a duck's back? My nieces and their friends talk a lot about Paris Hilton, but they don't want to be in a sex video or commit DWI. They would like her 22 inch waist and clothing budget, but they reject her behavior.
Linkat's kids want what is hip and popular. I would think it's OK to give kids dolls like this if they can differentiate the good from the bad. So they might play basketball with an inch of makeup, there are worse lessons than finding out that's how you get acne.
Yes SW, every generation is shocked by the younger generation. My grandmother was very good at doing the Charleston in her short dresses, but was appalled when she saw me as a teen wearing a plaid mini skirt meant to resemble a Catholic school girl's outfit.
I just wonder where we can go from here? Is there anything more creepy than giving little girls doll's that look like hookers and who wear outfits that match their cell phones. What's next - condoms for Ken, tiny packets of cocaine that fit in their little disco bags, divorce lawyer dolls complete with papers... I feel sorry for the next generation of mommies.
