The Big Bullies

Originally posted: 12/04/2008
Like I really needed one more issue to write about in my Issues. Thanks a lot Mattel. Seems they have won their lawsuit and Bratz are going to be pulled off the shelves after the holidays. I'm quite angry, Mattel is a huge bully in the toy industry. They shut down my favorite magazine, ruined another favorite magazine until they too stopped production, got Kenner to stop making Darci back in the day, and countless other dolls I'm sure. I mean, they even sue singers who sing about Barbie, and won't allow people that work for them to go by the nickname Barbie. The fact that Bratz will be removed from store shelves doesn't change the fact that Mattel's dolls are passe and the accessories cheap and easily broken. Here is a copy of the letter I just sent to them.

I just went to TRU yesterday and purchased my last Barbie Silver Label Collector dolls ever. I'm done with Barbie and I'm done with Mattel. No more American Girls, no more Fisher Price, no more Hot Wheels, and definitely no more Barbie. I'm sure you're getting a lot of feedback about the Bratz trial. I just want to add my 2 cents and let you know that I'm one of the many that has been happy having a choice for the past few years. I'll be making all my purchases from non-Mattel toy companies from here on out. I think you've failed to see that you aren't going to be gaining business, my daughter isn't going to like Barbie because Bratz aren't available, instead you just made her mom mad so that I won't be buying anything from you. Good business tactics...I think not.

With any luck MGA will win on appeal or will be able to manufacture a similar doll. I feel so sorry for my daughter and for any other little girls that love Bratz. She didn't grow up thinking Brat was a bad word, she just thinks it's a doll's name, it has only good connotations for her, all positive. Positive from the hours of play, to the way her room looks so beautiful filled with dolls and houses and furniture. Even the simple fact that she is 10 and still playing daily with dolls when it used to be standard for little girls to throw their dolls out around the age of 8. Oh Mattel, you just don't get it, and I don't have hopes that you will. We need choice, you need competition. Step up your game, make something better so that we come back to you. Otherwise your product, in the words of my son with the "r" problem.....is just a whip off.