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4/25/2012 @ 1:40PM |3,840 views
MGA's Bratz Dolls One-Up Barbie On Going Bald
There’s
a difference between a true investment and a half-hearted effort. And
this distinction is illustrated in the saga of the bald doll.In January, cancer advocate Jane Bingham launched a Facebook page asking Mattel to introduce a bald version of Barbie to support children with cancer. At first, Mattel responded to Bingham with a basic form letter saying it does not accept submissions from consumers. But after the “Beautiful And Bald Barbie” movement attracted widespread attention and accumulated more than 160,000 Facebook “likes,” the toy maker announced it would produce 10,000 limited-edition bald Barbie dolls to donate exclusively to U.S. children’s hospitals.
While Bingham was pleased with this decision, she was also disappointed with the result. “They are only making 10,000 of these dolls, so only a very limited number of kids will even be able to get their hands on one,” says Bingham. “Each year, 12,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer, and no child without cancer will receive one. Plus, this limited quantity is bound to cause a high resale price. It’s basically going to be only a collector’s item.”
At the same time, Mattel competitor MGA Entertainment, maker of the Bratz Dolls, was carefully watching the saga unfold. “After hearing that Jane just received a form letter from Mattel, it gave us the green light to get involved,” says MGA’s Susan Hale. MGA approached Bingham to develop the “True Hope” collection. Under the banner, MGA is releasing three bald Bratz dolls, three bald Moxie Girlz dolls, and one bald Moxie Boyz doll. In addition, MGA is donating $1 for every doll sold to support cancer research at the City of Hope organization.
Little details matter, says Hale. All of these dolls, for instance, do not have eyebrows since most cancer patients lose theirs. Wigs are also not included with the dolls, nor are they available as separate accessories. “We want to show that you don’t have to have hair to be beautiful,” says Hale. Each doll package comes with a kid-sized beaded bracelet, in honor of young cancer patients. “Kids receive a bead every time they finish a treatment. They use their collections as a way to countdown to the end of their treatment,” says Bingham.
The True Hope collection debuts exclusively at Toys ‘R’ Us beginning June 11th. The retailer is fully supporting the bald dolls by placing the SKUs in high traffic areas, including by the cashier registers. Hale also says Toys ‘R’ Us is not switching out any of the “hair” Bratz and Moxie dolls in the toy aisle to make room for these new products. “Toys ‘R’ Us is fully on board,” says Hale. “Other retailers see [selling bald dolls] as risky, but not Toys ‘R’ Us.”
Both Bingham and MGA’s Hale make an effort to downplay any competition between the two toy makers, though it’s hard not to make the comparison. “This isn’t a situation where Bratz beats Barbie. We would love to see all doll makers offer a bald version. It’s not just Barbie. We want to see bald [Spin Master] Liv Dolls and [Mattel] American Girl dolls,” says Hale.
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