The End of Bratz Dolls

Let me start out by saying I am NOT a fan of Bratz Dolls. They dress in sexually suggestive clothing, wear WAY too much makeup, and are just NOT an appropriate toy for a child. That said, yes, my kids have the dumb things. However, I do have limits- I donate the clothing they come with that I find to be too suggestive. Meaning, they all either are bought wearing a long skirt or pants, and have a shirt that covers their belly, with a jacket or short sleeves or long sleeves on top.

Maybe that's a bit over board, but these are dolls marketed to young kids, kids who are 6 or 7. To see a doll dressed that way, they think it's cool, and I certainly don't want my girls dressing that way. Gillian is getting some for Christmas- I got an insane deal at Goodwill on a bunch which were almost brand new- their hair was still in their original styles, all were fully dressed, and each doll was only $.59. I did have to buy new shoes, and some new clothing on eBay, but I wound up with 9 dolls for her, full dressed, for about $2 per doll.

Since she's getting a Nintendo DS for Christmas, I couldn't spend much money on her at all, but still wanted her to have some other items to open.

I digress. A while back, Mattel filed a lawsuit against MGA, the makers of Bratz dolls. The head designer of the dolls worked for Mattel when he came up with the idea. He pitched it, they declined, however because he worked for them, they owned the intellectual rights to the design and name.

He left Mattel, went to MGA, pitched it, and they bought it. Well, a judge just ordered MGA to cease production, and destroy all the specialized plates, molds, and matrices that are used to make the dolls. They are also being ordered to forfeit the name "Bratz".

There is an injunction in place that will allow MGA to continue producing the dolls through early 2009, to allow them to get them out in time for Christmas. After that, my guess is they'll redesign and rename the dolls before putting them back on the shelves.

Here's the article

And here are some pictures of WHY I object to most of these dolls. These are clothes they come with, not specially made by people, but available on the shelves.

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