So, there's a blogpost going around....

[conuly]

Apparently, some six-year-old girl was verbally abused to the point of tears at the American Girl Place

Well, that's what everybody believes, anyway.

Me... I'm not so sure. I'm not saying that they agreed to do her doll's hair (customer service claims that they're scared of damaging non-branded hair, which seems like a cop-out to me, but whatever), just that I don't believe that management was so oblivious to the brewing public relations nightmare. And I don't believe that all this harassment happened without the responsible adults calling for a manager, either - but to read the post, you'd believe that they just listened while other adults drove this little girl to tears, and said nothing in her defense (like, say "Grow up already!"), and I just don't believe it.

There's some truth in there, but how much of this story has been exaggerated, I don't know, and I don't think I'll ever know. I have no intention to boycott American Girl products, anyway - I wish I had that kind of money, to be honest!

Comments

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Oh, before I forget, having attempted doll hair reroots, the fact that they don't style other products' hair actually makes sense to me. Some cheaper brands (actually, a LOT of cheaper brands) do a shoddy job rooting the doll hair, so it's ridiculously easy to pull it out in the course of normal play. There are also different fiber types used for different brands, some of which are more brittle than others and not meant to be moved out of the style they're in. (It can be done, but they break pretty easily.) Good fibers can be styled and restyled (to an extent). Cheap ones can't. So when they say they won't do it for fear of damage, that's fine by me.

Second long comment, for the win!

[conuly]

Ah, thank you.