<![CDATA[Jezebel: Bratz]]> http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png <![CDATA[Jezebel: Bratz]]> http://jezebel.com/tag/bratz http://jezebel.com/tag/bratz <![CDATA[Return Of The Bratz]]> With the apocalypse just around the bend in 2012 and all, it makes sense that Bratz dolls are making a comeback. Only this time, their signature look is "more preppy than sexy." To which Barbie replied, "Boo, you whore." [LATimes] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5641766&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Michelle Obama: Role Model For Women Across The World • Penis Severed In Rape Revenge]]> • Michelle Obama is inspiring women the world over. "She shows women that it's OK to have dark skin and to not have a son. She's quite real to us," said Heather Ferreira of Mumbai. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5231658&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA["At Some Point, You Have To Be OK With Your Little Head"]]> Could Bratz be promoting unhealthy body image among young women? In this clip, The Onion investigates the possible link between unrealistic head size and low self esteem. [The Onion] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5137266&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Writing at Slate, former Jezebel Moe Tkacik...]]> Writing at Slate, former Jezebel Moe Tkacik — whose 2003 reporting broke the news to Mattel that their own designers had come up with Bratz and then sold the concept to another company — writes an open letter to Mattel about how to stop sucking. In addition to suggesting a Caribou Barbie with Bratz-y kids, Moe thinks Mattel ought to try making less low-end crap, marketing better and listening to its own consumers. She's always tilting at windmills, that Moe, but with a rhetorical style we all miss. [Wall Street Journal, Slate] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5103066&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Barbie Beats Bratz]]> On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that Mattel is the legal owner of the wildly popular Bratz dolls, which are manufactured by Mattel's main rival, MGA Entertainment. The ruling comes from a previous ruling this year when a jury found that the Bratz creator, Carter Bryant, was working at Mattel under an exclusive contract when he came up with the idea for Bratz. MGA is a family-owned company that has based its empire on Bratz, and the new ruling could mean the end of the company. MGA plans to appeal the decision, which will not take effect until February 11, 2009. [LA Times] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5101809&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Doggy Style]]> If you're worried about your child learning about the harsh realities of the economic situation, get them a "Tini Puppini," the new doggie divas! Forget man's best friend: "Tini puppinis are the most popular pups in town... They know that whatever they're wearing today, all the other pups will be wearing tomorrow!" The three dogs — Toffee (the Hollywood trendsetter), Tutu (party girl) and Tisha (French) are basically the cast of The Hills -meets-Bratz-meets-Tinkerbell Hilton — in other words, a recipe for good values. When you go to the site, animated dogs spring from a large pink purse while one of the "fashion pups" squeals, "I love my tail in these jeans!" [Tini Puppini] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5067202&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ The L.A. Times' Webscout blog parses the...]]> The L.A. Times' Webscout blog parses the treatment of teen sexuality on Ashton Kutcher's cartoons-discussing-celebrities blog, Blah Girls. It finds the Blah Girls to be realistically, "radically" portraying young female sexuality. "These three cartoon characters are sexualized in a way we rarely—if ever—see teenage girls depicted. They're not sexed-up in an exploitive Bratz way, or in a judgmental cautionary-tale way…The girls are trying to define their own fledging sexuality in the midst of our hypersexualized celebrity culture, and the embarrassment this usually leads to makes the show a gleeful satire of teenage girls' confused desires," writer Maria Russo argues. [LAT] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5066669&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ After many complaints from parents and educators,...]]> After many complaints from parents and educators, Scholastic has decided to stop offering the Bratz line of books. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood raged against the Bratz, arguing that by allowing the books to be sold to students through Scholastic's book clubs, schools are tacitly condoning the Bratz brand of skankiness. Scholastic has changed its tune and now all books will be yanked from the roster this school year. [Perez] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5051891&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Kit Kittredge: American Girl Or Capitalist Pawn? Is There A Difference?]]> It's hard out there for a living, breathing American girl. It's a morass of mixed messages, A.O. Scott points out in a Times think piece about Kit Kittredge, the Abigail Breslin-helmed American Girl doll-based movie coming out this week. "Who are you supposed to be, or to avoid becoming? A nerd? A ditz? A flirt? A tomboy?" Scott wonders. "What kind of role models are those make-believe princesses, those Bratz and Barbies, to say nothing of the real-life Britneys, Lindsays and Mileys? Mean Girls, Gossip Girls, Girls Gone Wild, Girl Power, You go, girl! What's a girl to do?" And considering the pervasive skankiness of Bratz and their ilk, the American Girls franchise seems like a bastion of true childhood in an increasingly sexualized marketplace. But, as Scott painstakingly notes, it's still part of the marketplace. Jeannette Catsoulis, reviewing Kit for the IHT perfectly summarizes the intrinsic hypocrisy in this Depression-era film. "When you consider that a Kit doll, complete with book and accessories, will currently run you $105, the movie's insistence on the nobility of the indigent might be a tad more difficult to stomach." More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=397540&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[After This Week, We Never Want To Hear The Words "Manolo" or "Cosmo" Ever Again]]>
  • Unless you're living in a closet on Mars, you know that the Sex and the City movie premiered today.
  • Slut Machine live blogged it wearing flip flops and eating some skittles. Suck on that, Louboutin wearers.
  • The only part of the Sex and the City franchise that we're not sick of is Pat Field and her fabulous, gay, Payless lifestyle.
  • Tyra Banks revealed her plans for world domination in the New York Times.
  • TyTy sort of looked like a Bratz doll on that Times Mag cover; Bratz are also involved in world domination schemes
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]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5011951&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Does This Look Like "Intellectual" Property To You?]]> I'm supposed to be in court in Riverside County, California right now. See, a few years ago I wrote this thing about how the Bratz dolls, the first dolls in the history of slutty-looking dolls to unseat Barbie for slutty looking doll hegemony (and the career ender of numerous highly remunerated Mattel executives), were actually masterminded inside the Mattel design center. Apparently they were scrapped because upper management didn't want to do anything to "cannibalize" their Barbie brand so the idea went nowhere and a doll designer took it to this guy who owned a scrappy little toy company that mostly specialized in competing for third and fourth tier licensing rights — like say, the right to manufacture keychains featuring crude electronic games bedecked in Pokemon logos — and that guy, with the help of a few more designers and a few thousand Shenzhen factory workers, turned the sketches into a multibillion dollar property. Well, Mattel is a litigious company — they were once known to sue Barbie fan clubs for trademark infringement — and when they read my story they apparently launched some sort of investigation and eventually sued the Bratz guys. Last summer I got deposed. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5011149&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Barbie Sales Flatten Worldwide — Are Bratz & Miss Bimbo To Blame?]]> Several financial news outlets are discussing Mattel's falling first-quarter results, and most place the blame squarely on the slim shoulders of a certain doll named Barbie. Barbie, which was introduced in 1959, is now first-runner-up for the under-12 set, in part because of competition from edgier, increasingly-popular brands like Bratz and Hannah Montana dolls and in part because of the emergence of web-based toys. According to Portfolio, "Children want Web-based toys, and they want them at younger and younger ages" the magazine cites the success of interactive toys like Webkinz, and let's not forget the potential pleasures of Miss Bimbo). But the real reason Portfolio believes that Barbie is no longer the reigning beauty queen in toy world is because "at 49, Barbie is becoming obsolete." More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=382494&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[New Game Encourages Young Girls To Embrace Their Inner "Bimbo"]]> There's a new game in England and France for girls ages 9 to 16, and it's so raunchy it makes Bratz dolls look positively Pollyanna-ish. Called "Miss Bimbo", the game is essentially an online competition in which each registered player is given a "Bimbo" all her own to take care of — sort of like those Tamagotchi pets, but, well, not. According to Miss Bimbo rules, the goal of the game is to make your Bimbo the " the hottest of hot Bimbos," which involves dating "that famous hottie," becoming a "socialite and skyrocket[ing] to the top of fame and popularity," and even resorting "to meds or plastic surgery", because girls should "Stop at nothing to become the reigning bimbo!" According to CNN, "Breast implants sell at 11,500 bimbo dollars and net the buyer 2,000 bimbo attitudes, making her more popular on the site." More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=371788&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Barbies (And Barbies On Booze) Are Big Business]]> The Barbie 2-in-1 party Plane & Ship, marketed for girls ages 3 to 8, comes with martini glasses, bar stools and a disco scene, notes the Packaging Girlhood blog. The blog makes the argument that unlike the Bratz, who also have a party plane, Barbies are adults; they may drink and go clubbing, but little girls understand that these activities are for grown-ups, not children. But is pushing drinks to 3-year-olds going a step too far? Meanwhile, despite its massive recalls last year, Barbie parent company Mattel is reporting that fourth-quarter profits are up 15%, according to The New York Times. The company has huge tax benefits to thank, but people continue to buy this stuff, especially internationally. (Barbie sales are down in the United States by 12%, but up 4% globally.) And guess what? Profits in the wholesome American Girl division are down 2%! More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=351057&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Watch Out Christiane Amanpour: Here Comes Naomi Campbell]]>
  • So that's what Naomi Campbell was doing in Venezuela: interviewing Hugo Chavez for British GQ. Now they're sending her to talk to Fidel Castro. Is this a fucking joke? And if not, does she realize the whole Latin American socialist alliance thing is like, kinda last season? [Vogue UK]
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]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=336622&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ The woman with the best makeup wins in...]]> The woman with the best makeup wins in Bratz world! Babble.com points us to the "educational" Bratz "Election Perfection" version of the Quantum LeapPad learning system, which seems like it's a computerized sort of notebook filled with learning games. Kids today with their technology! Anyway, the Bratzified LeapPad is apparently teaching decimals through the story of "Superstylin' Sasha" running for class president. "Join the girls as they mix their own makeup, design the best fashions, study up on women in leadership and go on a shopping trip — all to help Sasha win the election," the LeapPad website boasts. Hopefully the skankified Bratz can learn a lesson about leadership AND tasteful makeup from Hillary's pretty purple eyeshadow [Babble] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=331842&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Toy Story]]> In a focus group conducted in the UK by toy manufacturer Martin Yaffe, children were invited to play with what are expected to be this year's popular Christmas toys. Seven out of 10 girls chose to play with toys "designed for boys." The girls preferred Bob The Builder Snap Trax to Barbie and Bratz. Of course, a spokeswoman at the toy company is thrilled, saying, "It seems that stereotypes... no longer apply — opening up a whole new element of choice for parents when shopping for their daughters this Christmas!" Unfortunately, there's no word on whether any boys liked Barbie or Bratz. Also: Maybe the Bob The Builder set — with working car wash! — is just more fun? [The F Word] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=324485&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Kids Today Still Dressing Slutty; Kimora May Be Partially To Blame]]> We have written time and time again about kids nowadays dressing like streetwalkers. What's weird is that young celebs are, suddenly, dressing more and more like old women. (Seriously, what's with Blair Waldorf and all her blazers on Gossip Girl?) Anyway, some older stars are still dressing skankily, and they're setting a bad example. In segment on the weekend edition of Good Morning America a "real-life mom," Celia Rivenbank talked about her book, entitled Stop Dressing Your Six-Year Old Like A Skank. Of inappropriate clothes, Rivenbank says, "The moms are buying it, the dads are buying and maybe on some level the parents think, 'Oh that's cute, that's harmless, that's innocent' — but I don't think it is... [And yet] There's no reason that your child should be deprived of the fashion." Um, really? They're children. They don't know what fashion is. Seriously. And as a result, they won't even know what you're "depriving" them of it. GMA interviewed little Venus Melvin, age six, who is in danger of being "deprived." Guess what? Her fashion icon is Kimora Lee Simmons. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=316304&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Where In The World Is Lindsay Lohan?]]>
  • One report says that Lindsay Lohan is in a Sundance, Utah rehab facility which previously hosted Mary-Kate Olsen and David Hasselhoff. [EntertainmentTonight]
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]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=286274&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Bratz: Campaign To Convince Parents Movie Is Harmless In Full Effect]]> Maybe you heard? Bratz: The Movie is opening this week. Both the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer have profiles on the stars of the film today. One of the young actresses tells the reporter from the Post, "I didn't know anything about the dolls at all. Then people, like my friends, heard I was going to be in the movie and they said, 'Oh, so you're going to be a slut doll?'" Those pesky Bratz! Their bad reputation precedes them. But don't worry about impressionable young girls watching a movie filled with tiny tops and fishnets. "In the movie, the way we dress is very cute," actress Logan Browning says. "It's typical teenager wear," adds her costar, Skyler Shaye. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=285346&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today in Bratz news: Producer Avi Arad tells...]]> Today in Bratz news: Producer Avi Arad tells MTV the Bratz are "X-Men for girls — it's just that their superpowers are singing, fashion, soccer and cheerleading." He left out "getting their periods and talking on the phone," but clearly he's saving that for Bratz 2: Electric Boogaloo. [MTVNews] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=283231&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Britney Spears & Jon-Benet Weren't Born In Inappropriate Outfits, You Know]]> Back in the day when we were kids, we wore stirrup stretch pants and Keds. Also? The word "tween" did not exist. Kids nowadays? Well, apparently there is no such thing as a "kid" nowadays, insists the Arizona Republic. As if shopping for a teen or tween wasn't difficult enough, now there's a new category: the pre-tween.
Yes, a child goes directly from toddler to pre-tween, skipping the 'plain old kid' level altogether.
In addition, the newspaper complains, the options in stores for this age-group are borderline-inappropriate, like the "white, crocheted string bikini you'd likely see Anna Kournikova wearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue" from GapKids. (Marketed, naturally, for a 12-month-old.) More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=282769&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Lindsay Lohan: "I Am Innocent"]]>
  • Lindsay Lohan: "Did not do drugs they're not mine." Isn't this the same excuse from like, every episode of Cops? [People]
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]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=282184&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Bratz Movie Will Be So Good For Feminism, In Case You Can't Tell From All The Shopping And Makeup]]> Full disclosure: I am kind of fond of the Bratz. I once made a career chronicling Mattel's desperate attempts to compete with them and whichever southern Chinese children Bratz manufacturer MGA Entertainment finds to sew their little belts and handbags are a lot more talented than the ones who made my crappy Barbie stilettos. Which is good, because according to this segment from the television today about the Bratz movie, American children are falling behind on the whole "skills to arm us for the global economy" front because they are all so occupied "finding themselves" and "dealing with real girl problems." Like going shopping and trying on makeup! More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=282017&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[An Alternative To Bratz? Jesus Christ!]]> We all sort of agree that Bratz dolls are a wee bit skanky. Guess what? There's an antidote to the fishnet-wearin', pouty-puckered little wenches, thank the Lord. No, really. Thank Him! Because instead of playing with mini-skirted, ethnically ambiguous baby bimbos, kids can play with a chick who got pregnant but swears she never had sex. Her name's Mary! CNN reports that Wal-Mart is testing bible action figures. Because some of the toys they make today? Holy crap!
'If you're very religious, it's a battle for your children's minds and what they're playing with and pretending. There are remakes out there of Satan and evil things.'
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]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=279931&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Year Of The Living Dolls]]> For some reason (It's the money, stupid! -Ed) Hollywood has decided that making a movie based on the ever-popular and increasingly-sickening Bratz dolls is a good idea. Coming this August from Lionsgate is Bratz: The Movie, a live-action (comedy? tragedy?), in which the Bratz — Sasha! Jade! Chloe! Yasmin! — enter high school, learn to hate each other, then reconcile in a final denouement involving a talent show and the comeuppance of a mean-girl named Meredith. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=250013&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Year of the Living Dolls, Part III]]> Are Bratz dolls partly to blame for young women dressing (and sometimes behaving) like tramps? Catherine Bennett doesn't think so. We don't either - we're in agreement with Bonaduce that it's probably Typhoid Mary Paris Hilton. [Guardian UK] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=239725&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Year of the Living Dolls.]]> We're fairly certain that the title and cover image of Tori Amos's upcoming album American Doll Posse (click here to see) are a pointed commentary on the prepubescent sexuality American women are supposed to embody nowadays (Don't get us started on what this is doing to actual prepubescents). More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=238258&view=rss&microfeed=true