American Girls. Not.
Oh for crying out loud.
American Girl Dolls Made In China
They’re marketed as the all-American girls, each representing a different period in American history. But CBS 11 found the American Girl dolls that teach our heritage aren’t really American.
Susan Mobley has purchased several American Girl dolls over the years for her daughter, Heather. But the Mobleys recently discovered these dolls are only American in name. If you look closely, you’ll see a tag on the box that says “Made in China.”
“To have an American Girl doll made in China sounds like a contradiction, does it not?” said Dr. Daniel Howard, professor of Marketing at the SMU Cox School of Business.
He says it’s all about cost. It’s more expensive to manufacture the dolls in the U.S., which means the price of the $87 dolls would be even higher.
“I believe that there are many American consumers who would pay it simply for the knowledge, simply for the comfort of knowing that this doll was made in the good ol’ U.S. of A,” Dr. Howard said…
If that’s not enough, check out the patronizing response the reporter got after contacting American Girl about the absurdity of their product being made in China:
“Like the majority of the world’s toys, American Girl products are manufactured in China, in addition to 18 other countries. All the design and conception work is done at the company’s headquarters in Wisconsin.”
Yeah, 18 countries other than the United States. So hey, what’s the problem? All the Arty-type work is done in Wisconsin. It’s just the boring blue-collar manufacturing jobs we ship out to a communist pit that’s at war with us.
We shouldn’t be surprised by this. “American Girl” is made by Mattel, which has had the largest recall of toys in the world, with 9.5 million units recalled because of dangerous or shoddy work done in China.
And never, never, forget that it was Mattel that apologized to China after the massive recalls.
I trust this information is helpful to you as you continue your Christmas shopping.
I came across this link for U.S. made toys. I hope it’s helpful:
http://toysmadeinamerica.com/
Thanks Kelly!! It is. I have tried to make an extreme effort NOT to buy China made products..but I am vowed this Christmas NOT too. Great link. In fact the wee one’s this Christmas are receiving only made in America toys..
I’m very concerned that so much manufactured stuff comes from China, and about our huge trade deficit. But I’m not sure I can blame Mattel, which is merely moving along with the global tide. If Mattel didn’t buy stuff from China, they’d be undersold by someone else who did, and the American public would then give thanks to Mattel and business to the foreigner. If we want to turn this around, we’ve got to step back and ask why current circumstances favor endless outsourcing, and what can we do the restore balance? What parameters can we alter? Regulations and red tape? Currency valuations? Tariffs? Sales or value-added (consumption) tax rather than income (production) tax?
Personally I try to buy domestic stuff. I can’t turn things around by myself, so I admit this is nothing more than a personal feelgood thing. And often I don’t have a choice about avoiding imports. Like this computer I’m typing on now.
as long as they’re made with the finest quality lead paint, it’s okay.