They're Coming For Your Daughters
By ThrowsLikeAGirl
OK - first I'll venture to say that this particular blog entry may not resonate with most of our testosterone-totin' real guy readers. No sweat, move along to the talk of Big Units and brawlers.
But moms and dads out there will appreciate this latest outrageous trick from the corporate coffers of the Yankees and Mattel Inc: Because we have a daughter and a couple of nieces who have - over the last decade or so - emptied our wallets of a good amount of cash in order to adopt, cloth and accessorize dolls from the "American Girl" collection, I receive several advertising e-mails a month to inform me of "special promotions." Well, today I get this one: It says "Bring Your American Girl to the Ballgame! Come see the New York Yankees v. the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 9. The first 10,000 girls through the gates will get a doll-sized New York Yankees home jersey, pants and cap outfit" - plus other prizes...
Gag me.
Now these $100-a-pop American Girl dolls sell themselves as 18" plastic-headed embodiments of the strong, wise, pioneering, gutsy spirit of the young American woman. Their gimmick is that each doll and outfit comes with a meaningful, inspiring storybook about the quintessential American experience of girls through history. Fine and good. It's better than slutty cocktail waitress Barbie, right?
So who decided (in the Chicago-and Wisonsin-based corporate offices, no less) to make little Yankee pinstripe uniforms for the dolls? Where are the Cubs' uniforms? The Orioles? The Red Sox? Or is this just a way to draw Yankee fans out to the Bronx in order to fill some seats during a foregone-conclusion series with the Blue Jays? I guess little girls from the rest of the country can just sew their own doll outfits. This just smells like more blatant Yankee-pandering to me.
So go ahead families of adorable 7-year old precious little ladies. Take them to the park. Get them the outfit. Order up a few cold beers and wait as your daughter picks up on a few other all-American traditions like crotch-grabbing, swearing and spitting. (and that's just Mel from Staten Island in the seat next to her.)
Tea party anyone?
