Discussions
Homeless American Girl Doll for $95?
Posted by DollinNYC • 9/25/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: dolls, homeless, stupid
Yes, it's true! For $95 dollars you can have your own homeless doll, Gwen Thompson from American Girl Doll company. Although technically after you buy her she is no longer homeless.
I think it's ridiculous, and they should at least donate a portion of the proceeds to a charity that helps the homeless.
homelessness.change.org/blog/view/american_girls_latest_doll_is_homeless
And I wonder who's next for American Girl Dolls?
Brittany Livingston, the Welfare Doll?
User Comments
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Hmmm from San Francisco?? A lesbian shocker perhaps?
"The next American Girl movie will feature
Julie Albright & Ivy Ling from 1970's San Francisco,
and it will be a musical!" -
. . . . maybe a welfare cheat doll?
I suggest a medically-uninsured doll for the future . . . .-
Good one ! a doll with a pre-existing condition!
p.s. I mentioned Brittany above - the welfare doll. -
I thought Brittany could have a little sister - the welfare cheat. Maybe have her working under the table but getting foodstamps nonetheless . . . .
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oh good plan - she could wear her bling to the doctors office !
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Molly Mcintyre is a lively, lovable schemer and dreamer growing up in 1944. The world is at war, and Molly doesn't like many of the changes the war has brought, like rationing rubber, eating turnips for dinner, and not seeing Dad on Christmas. She has been forced by her evil stepmother to have sex with strange men . But she learns the importance of getting along and pulling together - just as her country must do to win the war!"-
But will Molly parctice rationing with the strange men?
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Well , not in the way you might think.
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That description sounds like it came straight out of the J Peterman catalog -
it's word for word from the American Girl Doll website! Except for a few added words ...
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Oh I thought you were making all but the first one up, as a 1950's home-maker turned independent woman/model/foreign delegate/domestic peacemaker/secret agent doll (your business card must be huge) how do you feel about these less conventional dolls competing for your attention?
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No one can compete with the Doll. Plus I am not for sale!
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Samantha Parkington is a bright, compassionate girl living with her wealthy grandmother in 1904. Mother and Father would not buy Samantha that cute little puppy in the window, so Samantha killed them with an ax. Samantha's world is filled with frills and finery, parties and play. But Samantha sees that times are not good for everybody. That's why she tries to make a difference in the life of her friend Juanita, an illegal alien and servant girl whose life is nothing like Samantha's! -
can we have an illegal alien so the government can harrase them for trying to get a better life -
ROFL these are hilarious!-
hmm a Lisa NYC Doll may be coming to a store near you...
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you also need a southern red neck doll dont for get that
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How about a washed-up celebrity doll that makes up stories about an incestuous past so she can appear on the Oprah doll's show? There IS a Oprah doll, isn't there???
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Oh yes and her "she's just a friend!" doll Gayle!
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Felicity Merriman is a spunky, sprightly girl growing up in Virginia in 1774, just before the Revolutionary War. Felicity grows impatient doing the "sitting-down kinds of things" that colonial girls are expected to do. She much prefers to be outdoors, especially tickling the goats in that special place!! Felicity learns about loyalty and responsibility - to her family, her friends, and her country - and what it means to be truly independent. -
"Goats"? Ah, yes...the Merriman family are actually first cousins to the Speyers of Manhattan, New York. Jerold Speyer was born in 1865, lived in Atlanta, and had sex with quite a number of his female slaves. Today the Speyer family are a prominent New York real estate firm, and Robbie has a secret proclivity towards goats. Now we know it runs in the family!
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It's a family tradition!
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Wasn't there a big hullaballoo recently regarding a breast feeding doll ?-
yes I believe there was!
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Best Movie EVER!
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Real Doll experiences :o
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrvbj2aRT1I&hl=es -
O I saw that on BBC- totally cringeable!
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I'm dismayed by this little bit of outrage:
"What message is being sent with Gwen?
For starters, men are bad. Fathers abandon women without cause. She's also telling me that women are helpless. And that children in this great country, where dolls sell for nearly 100 bucks a pop, are allowed to sleep in motor vehicles. But mothers don't lose custody over this injustice. Because, you see, they are victims, too."
I'm very curious as to which piece of this the author feels is inaccurate. Obviously not ALL men are "bad" and "abandon women without cause", but it certainly happens quite a lot, and children suffer for it. And of course, hundreds of thousands of children in this "great country, where dolls sell for nearly 100 bucks a pop" are in fact homeless, many without the benefit of a vehicle to live in. Is the author so distraught because someone is telling the truth?-
Andrea Peyser is a freak and that is why I did not post her "article". She writes for the NY (Com)Post, which barely passes for a newspaper in NYC.
She wrote a series of articles in defense of a guy who killed a cat by kicking it across the room. She is a total loser.
www.nypost.com/p/news/felonious_ball_of_fur_deserved_every_8hF8XCapjLdPmwLX... -
hey! that cat was asking for it!
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I will take a Samantha Parkington post haste!
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You have her already - Admit it!
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I need another in the original packaging for investment purposes
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That one was a big seller. Good luck! Maybe on Ebay?
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I hobby in estate sales...
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I am surprised anybody would pay 95 dollars for a doll...
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For that much, you could buy a real homeless person!-
For 95 dollars you could certainly feed a lot of homeless people...
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exactly!
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I'm not a fan of American Girl dolls (or anything else that inspires devotion to collecting and accessorizing the outrageously expensive), but it seems to me that what they're doing with this doll is creating a doll that is in every other way just like their other dolls--looks like them, fits their clothes, is clean and pretty--and making it part of her backstory that she happens, through no fault of her own, to be homeless.
I think the "message" that sends is that homeless people are humans with lives and feelings just like the rest of us, the only difference being that they've fallen on financial hard times. Personally, I think that's a great message.-
Or is it trying to draw attention to the fact that the richest country in the world has plenty of homeless, even veterans, while other countries have taken steps to eradicate it?
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True NT77, and for a homeless doll she is dressed pretty nicely.
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DollinNYC, I think the stereotype you perpetuate here may be precisely the motivation for creating a doll like this. The fact that one falls on hard times and can't keep up the rent doesn't mean that her clothing vanishes, or that her parents don't find a way to keep it clean.
Years ago when I was working for legal aid in Georgia, I had a client who was denied emergency foodstamps because the intake worker told her she couldn't be homeless because her hair looked too good. -
I am not perpetuating any stereotypes. I have worked in many inner city low income neighborhoods in NYC, and if I showed anyone that doll they would laugh. Please don't read so much into my comments.
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It almost seems like the prime directive of intake clerks for social agencies is to discourage or disqualify people from the supposed assistance they pretend to offer...
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Again, Please don't read so much into my comments. And it's not necessary to make assumptions on what you believe I choose to ignore.
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@gPE: Pretty much. I think they take pleasure from it. Of course they are the same organization who wrote your tax returns.
@MadameX: I agree.
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If anyone is wondering why this comment was removed, I flagged myself because I badly mispelled a word. Bwahaha, now you can't mock me. -
That's what they all say...
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Gwen Thompson is totally a poor name
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start talking about your damn cupcakes or something - QUICK !
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As gerryPlanetEarth wisely pointed out - a lot of homeless people could be fed for the high cost of a doll that doesn't even come close to accurately portraying the tragedy and complicated situation of a homeless individual, but instead mocks it, and for that reason could never work as a tool to teach children compassion. I'm also certain any homeless person would find this silly doll extremely demeaning. It makes light of their situation for commercial purposes, and sends the wrong message to children about homelessness. Disgusting.
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Seconded.
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Did you see the biography that comes with the doll: "The biography crafted for American Girl's latest creation (found in the history book that comes with each doll) has folks across the web seething. It goes something like this: After Gwen's father walked out of the family, her mother lost her job. Fall came and went, and by the winter, they had no choice but to start living in the family car."
Yet the happy expression on the doll certainly doesn't match the emotional trauma that a real homeless child experiences when forced to live in a car, and its well-groomed, clean appearance and clothes is equally inaccurate, since the homeless child wouldn't have frequent access to bathing and bathroom facilities, and their personal hygiene would obviously suffer, among other things in such a tragedy.-
This is the homeless version for people who can afford $95 for a doll. Rich people want to shelter themselves from the abject poverty that exists throughout the country. It's OK to acknowledge homelessness, as long as they don't have to actually acknowledge all of the unpleasantries that go along with it.
Filth, grime, hunger and cold are not subjects that go well with wine and caviar. -
Well said LisaNYC & NT77. Fortunately there are people like you that see the big picture.
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Exactly, NT77.
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I got my hopes up for you Lisanyc, thinking that Scott had actually joined BC! Then I realized it's just a new picture of Scott. Is that the one he sent you?
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What really disgusts me is how little if any of the recent bailout and economic stimulus money was used to address the problems of the homeless...
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Gerry, how do you think that might have been done effectively?
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It's the new Scott Peterson doll. I'm surprised you didn't know about it. It got a lot of media coverage. Fortunately, I found one slightly "used" on eBay for only $75.00 excluding tax, which is a lot cheaper than those joke American Girl dolls!
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Did he come with an electric chair too? I think that was part of the original set!
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Looks very lifelike, don't you think?
I guess BC loves Scott as much as I do......since it's letting me have two avatars that shows off how hot he is.
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Well, there are two different kits to choose from that come with the Scott doll - lethal injection or electric chair. I'm not very handy with stuff that needs assembling like the electric chair does, so I choose the simpler version with the lethal injection. But I'll only use it if he leaves the toilet seat up!
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Here's more about the homeless doll:
"In an attempt to remove stereotypes, it appears to me Mattel/AG reinforced a few with that storyline alone…I’m still reeling at the disconnect of pricey dolls with add-on consumption cues galore. (ahem, you can have your doll’s hair done for $20, hmn, will they charge $20 to ‘mess it up’ and stain the dress to simulate what it’s like to live in a car without a shower for awhile?)"
www.shapingyouth.org/?p=8523-
Some great points raised in that piece - I liked this comment by one of the readers there:
“Instead of paying over 100 dollars including tax, why not take your child and teach them how to help others. How many homeless people can you by lunch for with 100 dollars? Or perhaps a winter coat from a thrift shop. Show the children where your heart is, and how to help rather than buy another toy they do not need. the education they receive for helping others will last far longer than the doll. And why make Mattel richer, what are they doing to help others in need?”
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homelessness is a disease that needs to be eradicated.
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I just saw that on FOX News today. My reaction was: What a terrible idea! Who comes up with this stuff?
It's one thing to buy a homeless doll, it's another to bring a REAL homeless person home!
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