Really, Mattel? You thought this was a good idea?
Mattel has released a new Monster High doll named Clawdeen Wolf, who is VERY focused on her looks, and spends the majority of her time “waxing, plucking and shaving.”
Here’s how the “teen werewolf doll’s” character description reads:
├óΓé¼┼ôMy hair is worthy of a shampoo commercial, and that├óΓé¼Γäós just what grows on my legs. Plucking and shaving is definitely a full-time job but that├óΓé¼Γäós a small price to pay for being scarily fabulous.”
Wow. Here’s what human behavior and body image expert Patrick Wanis had to say about the doll:
“These dolls are training girls to feel ashamed of their bodies, to focus on being sexually appealing and sexually attractive from a pre-pubescent age. By sexualizing these young girls, corporations also create another avenue to market and sell more products to a younger demographic. These dolls also promote skimpiness of clothing, encouraging a young girl to dress like a stripper and believe that they must be sexually enticing to everyone around them.”
More from clinical psychologist Sari Shepphird:
“Young girls especially do not need a doll to point out physical flaws or encourage body image preoccupation in teens and young girls. Dolls are for play and escape and pleasure, and they should not be another source of criticism for young girls these days. It used to be that dolls were part of childhood and represented and offered an extension of innocence, but now some dolls are encouraging the opposite of innocence.”
And more from body image expert/Love Your Body, Love Your Life author Sarah Maria:
“Mattel is essentially promoting and encouraging the belief in young girls that they need to sculpt, tweeze, wax, and otherwise change their bodies in order to be considered attractive to men. Please, drop the hypocrisy. A Mattel spokesperson has the audacity to claim the Monster High dolls are celebrating imperfections and accepting imperfections in others. Excuse me? If these dolls are about self-acceptance and acceptance of others, how about leaving some hair on the body?”
Here’s what a Mattel spokesperson had to say about the Monster High dolls:
“Monster High was the number one best selling new fashion doll of 2010 according to NPD and is resonating with teen and tween girls. Grounded in a clever and humorous storytelling, Monster High characters deliver a positive message of celebrating ones imperfections and embracing those of others.”
Sorry Mattel, but we’re NOT gonna be able to side with you on this one. You’ve come up with a cute concept, but your approach to it is SERIOUSLY twisted and NOT child-appropriate.
Who do U side with? Team Mattel or Team Everyone Else?
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