By KATHERINE SNOW SMITH
Published February 22, 2004
Move over, Barbie. There's a more stylish and, in many parents' eyes, more outrageous competitor known as a Bratz doll that is grabbing young girls' affection and allowance.
There have long been complaints that Barbie's curvy figure and long platinum hair set an unhealthy precedent for girls. But while her closet might include a faux leather bustier, in recent years Barbie has taken up such roles as teacher, track star, veterinarian and pregnant and postpartum mom.
The makeup-heavy Bratz dolls, with midriff-baring sweaters and pouty lips, are the latest rage. They come in a variety of skin tones and ethnic looks - for this, manufacturer MGA Entertainment should be applauded - and have proved to be popular with girls everywhere. But based on their accessories and books, Bratz are all about hair, makeup, shopping, partying and getting a date with a hot guy.
The $100 Formal Funk Super Styling Runway Disco comes with a makeup station and smoothie bar. The $60 Formal Funk Limo shows that at least they don't drink and drive. Perhaps a Funky Botox Salon is next.
"They have this pouty look with the bedroom eyes. How old are these girls supposed to be?" asked my friend Lee Silbert Burgess, whose 10-year-old daughter is a Bratz fan. "They are antisweet. Or maybe they may be nice, they may be brilliant, but they don't look it."
Parents have been complaining about the Bratz style and attitude in the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, yet the Toy Industry Association honored the Bratz Stylin' Salon N' Spa with the people's choice toy of the year award based on consumers and industry types who voted on the association's Web site and through mail-in ballots from a toy magazine.
Through commercials, toy shelf placement and talk at school, girls ages 4 to 12 are begging for them. Retailers couldn't keep the Bratz girls - Cloe, Jade, Yasmin and friends - in stock this past holiday season while some Barbies and other dolls were growing stale on the shelves.
"I felt so sorry for Strawberry Shortcake and Betty Spaghetty. The Bratz were gone and the pristine dolls were untouched," Burgess said.
One toy analyst estimated that Mattel, the maker of Barbie, has seen its share of the $827-million fashion doll category drop from 75 percent to about 60 percent since Bratz came out almost three years ago. To try to regain some lost ground, Mattel has introduced My Scene and Flavas dolls, which are more hip than their perky cousin, Barbie.
I have had a whirlwind relationship with Bratz. Santa delivered the Bratz mall to my 7-year-old daughter. It was the only thing Olivia repeatedly asked for, and I admit my research amounted to a glance at a Web site. By mid January, I was standing in Target trying to explain to my two girls that Bratz were awful toys and we wouldn't be buying any more.
Olivia wanted to use her money to buy the Bratz Hangin' With the Girls activity book. I thumbed through it and found each page more ridiculous and infuriating. I was already down on "the girls" after "hangin"' with them at their mall that was now collecting dust in my daughters' room.
"Do your friends get jealous about the amount of attention you get from boys?" the How Do You Flirt quiz asked.
"Create a super smoky look by applying a darker color to the outer part of your lid and going lighter as you go in," the beauty tips offered.
But the part that had me panting like I was in labor again was the Highs and Lows questionnaire. It opens, "Every girl has something about herself that she'd love to change," and goes on to ask readers what they would most like to change about their appearance and personality.
"No. No. No. You cannot have this book. This book is horrible," I ranted in the middle of the store. "It's telling girls that they should want to change something about their wonderful, working, healthy bodies. We are done with Bratz and all their stuff."
My daughter, who usually doesn't shy away from a healthy debate, quietly put the book down and hasn't mentioned it since. (I returned alone the next day and bought the book so I could report on it in this column.)
I asked more moms and daughters at the Toys "R" Us store on Tyrone Boulevard what they thought of the "girls with a passion for fashion," who come packaged with three "hot outfits."
"Maybe they are for older girls, but I'm not buying them for her," Jill Fityo said of her 6-year-old daughter, Autumn.
"They are just better than all the Barbie dolls. Bratz dolls are more in style," said 10-year-old Casey Barszcz. "Barbies are for younger girls." Though Casey and her friends at school like to draw pictures of the Bratz and talk about them, she doesn't have one of her own. Her mother said Casey hasn't expressed a strong interest in getting one.
"I wish they were more age-appropriate, but at least it is a doll for older girls," Linda Barszcz said. She said she heard there was going to be a Bratz clothing line for girls based on the dolls' wardrobe. "I won't be buying that," she added.
That my daughters will want to wear clothes and makeup like Bratz isn't the worst of it. I worry how they compare themselves with Bratz or Barbie or any other perfect-seeming doll.
I asked my daughters why they liked Bratz so much.
"They are cool because they show their belly buttons," my 5-year-old said.
"Their hair is so perfect and their clothes are so stylish. Everything about them is so perfect," my 7-year-old said.
Toy makers, recording stars and television shows push alluring role models on our young, impressionable children, but parents control what enters the home. We draw a line on movies and video games and toys.
I realized too late that Bratz were too grown-up for my girls, but we're talking now about why we don't want to emulate them or any other doll for that matter. Perhaps to overcompensate, I bought the girls a book about Eleanor Roosevelt. They actually like it. Take that, Bratz.
