You Don't Need Hasbro, Pussycat Dolls

Hasbro shelves plans for Pussycat Dolls

Hasbro Inc. shelved plans Wednesday to release a line of dolls based on the Pussycat Dolls, an all-female music group known for risque lyrics and skimpy outfits.

Hasbro, the nation's second biggest toy maker, said it decided the dolls were "inappropriate" for the company to market and that the pop group catered to a more mature audience.

The move comes amid criticism from a national advocacy group, Dads & Daughters, that had campaigned against the doll line.

The company had reached a deal with Interscope Records, the group's label, to release dolls modeled after the popular sextet — whose songs include the hit single, "Don't Cha." But it released a statement Wednesday saying it had abandoned plans for the doll line.

"Interscope's current creative direction and images for the recording group are focused on a much older target than we had anticipated at the time of our original discussions, thereby making a doll line inappropriate for Hasbro," the company said.

A Hasbro spokeswoman, Gail Carvelli, declined to comment beyond the statement.

Joe Kelly, president of Dads & Daughters, which organized a letter-writing campaign to get Hasbro to cancel the doll line, said he was pleased with the company's decision.

"We asked Hasbro executives to imagine encouraging their own six-year-old daughters and granddaughters to engage in developmentally unhealthy behavior," Kelly said in a statement.

"It appears that they did that, and then made the right decision for their families, our families, and the company."

 

I thought their marketing pitch was great - "Who would like to undress a Pussycat Doll?" I'm sure it would have been a huge money maker for both the Pussycat Dolls and Hasbro.  Like Hasbro needed to make more money - they're the #2 toy manufacturer in the country, giving us American staples like G.I. Joe and Playdoh.   But the company caved into the Daughters and Dads organization, as well as a letter bashing campaign and they decided to pull the dolls from their original fall release.   It's sad.  Just sad. 

Let's be real here, faithful readers.  The majority of little girls that get these dolls don't have dispoable income - they get the money from their parents, who would be the ones taking them to the store to buy the dolls.  If the parents didn't want their kids to have the dolls, all they would have to do would be to tell them no.  I'll take the concerned parents side for a moment and say that they screwed up.  The parents lost a great chance to teach a lesson to Hasbro, and other big companies, by not buying the dolls after they were introduced in the market. They should have waited till Hasbro put the product on the market before voicing their anger and not fork over for the Pussycat Dolls dolls as well as other Hasbro products, such as G. I. Joe, Playdoh and My Little Pony. 

Let's separate the actual dolls from the Pussycat Dolls stage show.  What's the problem?  The dolls don't look any different than the Barbies or Bratz dolls on the market today. And another thing - go to any mall, or any store for that matter, and half of the girls you see will be dressed like this.  And a lot so the times their parents are with them.  So the parents don't mind if their kids dress like that, but they don't want their little girls buy dolls that are dressed the same way.  Ohhhhkay.

I'm sorry that Hasbro caved in like they did.  If I had kids, I would now boycott Hasbro products because they have no guts. You don't need Hasbro, Pussycat Dolls.  You're doing fine without them.  I would have bought a set of the Pussycat Dolls dolls to put in my archives, along with my Charlies Angels dolls and my John Travolta doll.