"Sorry, pumpkin–that dolly supports sexual deviants and murderers."
Social conservatives threatening to boycott the American Girl doll and book series might have had a case had the company come out with a new character who slept around, volunteered at Planned Parenthood and came accessorized with a miniature coat hanger–but the reality is even more ridiculous.
In the hierarchy of controversial corporations, they don’t come much less incendiary than American Girl. Created in 1986 by Middleton’s own Pleasant Company, its characters live politically correct history (cutting off at World War II, well before the country’s free-lovin’ moral decline) and embody ultra-patriotic values.
But American Girl has offended pro-life and “pro-family” groups by selling wristbands in its stores and online to support Girls Inc., a non-profit organization that perpetuates the hedonistic philosophy that, in the words of its president, “women should have the right to make decisions about themselves.”
American Girl claims the wristbands fund programs promoting leadership, athletics, science and math for young girls; conservatives want to add abortion, lesbianism and wanton sex to that list.
Citing statements made in the “advocacy” section of Girls Inc.’s Web site supporting Roe v. Wade, unhindered access to contraception and open discussion and acceptance of sexuality, conservative groups are now petitioning American Girl threatening boycotts and store pickets unless it terminates ties to Girls Inc.
In response, American Girl issued a statement expressing disappointment that “certain groups have chosen to misconstrue American Girl’s purely altruistic efforts and turn them into a broader political statement on issues that we, as a corporation, have no position.”
Indeed, if corporations these days were tied to issue positions by where their funds flowed, they would have more bedfellows than even the most prodigious little Lolita.
Girls Inc. received gifts from hundreds of corporate donors in 2004, including Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, IBM, Toyota, the NFL, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and virtually every major media conglomerate and telecommunications provider, to name a mere sampling. Good conservatives had better boycott them all. (And move to another country: The Centers for Disease Control gave at least $1 million to Girls Inc. last year.)
American Girl’s parent company is Mattel, meaning Barbie, Sesame Street, Disney, Looney Tunes and Fischer-Price are all off limits. Conservatives can’t even play Bushism Scrabble or duke out red states vs. blue with their Rock’em Sock’em Robots without being hypocrites.
They can’t turn to GI Joe, either–Hasbro’s charitable arm doesn’t give grants to religious organizations or discriminate based on sexual orientation, and recently donated to Powerful Voices, another girl-empowering group that ominously says it provides education “rooted in science.”
Plainly, trying to stay ideologically in step with not merely the producers, distributors and sellers of every product you buy but also everyone in their funding webs would require an entirely separate values-based economy.
But instead of withdrawing, perhaps the social conservatives could contribute their own toys, like an “American Abortion Survivor” series of huggable little fetuses that come with books spinning all the upstanding moral adventures they will have if given chances at life. (They could even hire a likely struggling Bill Bennett to pen a cautionary tale about a token minority fetus.)
That way, everyone would win: capitalism and democracy would be affirmed, tradition would endure and budding Ann Coulters across the land would be in sheer rapture.
In the hierarchy of controversial corporations, they don’t come much less incendiary than American Girl. Created in 1986 by Middleton’s own Pleasant Company, its characters live politically correct history (cutting off at World War II, well before the country’s free-lovin’ moral decline) and embody ultra-patriotic values.
But American Girl has offended pro-life and “pro-family” groups by selling wristbands in its stores and online to support Girls Inc., a non-profit organization that perpetuates the hedonistic philosophy that, in the words of its president, “women should have the right to make decisions about themselves.”
American Girl claims the wristbands fund programs promoting leadership, athletics, science and math for young girls; conservatives want to add abortion, lesbianism and wanton sex to that list.
Citing statements made in the “advocacy” section of Girls Inc.’s Web site supporting Roe v. Wade, unhindered access to contraception and open discussion and acceptance of sexuality, conservative groups are now petitioning American Girl threatening boycotts and store pickets unless it terminates ties to Girls Inc.
In response, American Girl issued a statement expressing disappointment that “certain groups have chosen to misconstrue American Girl’s purely altruistic efforts and turn them into a broader political statement on issues that we, as a corporation, have no position.”
Indeed, if corporations these days were tied to issue positions by where their funds flowed, they would have more bedfellows than even the most prodigious little Lolita.
Girls Inc. received gifts from hundreds of corporate donors in 2004, including Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, IBM, Toyota, the NFL, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and virtually every major media conglomerate and telecommunications provider, to name a mere sampling. Good conservatives had better boycott them all. (And move to another country: The Centers for Disease Control gave at least $1 million to Girls Inc. last year.)
American Girl’s parent company is Mattel, meaning Barbie, Sesame Street, Disney, Looney Tunes and Fischer-Price are all off limits. Conservatives can’t even play Bushism Scrabble or duke out red states vs. blue with their Rock’em Sock’em Robots without being hypocrites.
They can’t turn to GI Joe, either–Hasbro’s charitable arm doesn’t give grants to religious organizations or discriminate based on sexual orientation, and recently donated to Powerful Voices, another girl-empowering group that ominously says it provides education “rooted in science.”
Plainly, trying to stay ideologically in step with not merely the producers, distributors and sellers of every product you buy but also everyone in their funding webs would require an entirely separate values-based economy.
But instead of withdrawing, perhaps the social conservatives could contribute their own toys, like an “American Abortion Survivor” series of huggable little fetuses that come with books spinning all the upstanding moral adventures they will have if given chances at life. (They could even hire a likely struggling Bill Bennett to pen a cautionary tale about a token minority fetus.)
That way, everyone would win: capitalism and democracy would be affirmed, tradition would endure and budding Ann Coulters across the land would be in sheer rapture.
posted by Holly at 9:39 AM
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