You may have seen recently that Mattel (Barbie) won a lawsuit against MGA Entertainment (Bratz) and Bratz will no longer be made or sold after the holiday season. Something about the creator of Bratz having worked at Mattel originally and violating a copyright or competition clause.
Anyway, the moms of the world are pro-Barbie or pro-Bratz (yes, all this in the midst of a global economic crisis!) and those who are pro-Bratz claim she is a fun rebel with spunk. The Barbie supporters say the Bratz dolls are trashy, over-sexualized dolls who wear too much makeup.
Personally I don't like either doll and neither doll has a place in our home. Not due to some moral crusade but my kids prefer other kinds of toys and games and I'm happy with that. But "trashy" Bratz aside, Barbie's figure is a rather overly sexualized one too, with a bust to waist to hip to leg ratio that would literally disable a real woman if she had those actual measurements.
Is all this fuss over nothing? Or do these dolls really say something to our young girls?