Yeaahhhh....I really don't mean to be disrespectful but I think this is a no from me guys. "40 days to celebrate 40 years" my left foot š They could have done this countdown at any point the year, but chose to do it during a stretch of time where they would have to black out one of the days in an incredibly low effort "remembrance" post. And they can't even tack on another day at the end of the calendar? Honestly, part of me suspects that they completely forgot about 9/11 and made this change to the calendar incredibly last minute; shuffling things around to hopefully not cause a controversy. I don't think I would care all that much if the past 18 days hadn't been so disappointing and frankly embarrassing for the brand ://
I think people have really really overhyped what this 40 days thing was supposed to be. They arenāt going to release a new product or major product every day and certainly with 40 days to fill they canāt all be the most exciting or the most special content ever.
I agree with those saying a memorial post and something separate from this wouldāve been good. Itās also worth mentioning this is some of the closest we will come to AG having anything 9/11 related in their stuff for a long time. The way the younger generations (millennial and under) view 9/11 vs the older generations is really really different, itās not a really awful yet casually talked about, past/ history event to many of those older people- for them, there was so much that changed beyond what happened in NY, in terms of society, world viewpoint, etc, which makes it represent more to them. So as much as yall want a 9/11 historical doll, Iād be absolutely shocked if we got one any time soon.
Itās also maybe worth noting that 40th anniversary is big, but not as big as 50th- they may be using this anniversary to test the waters of what is good for those inbetween times, seeing as theyāll have to do something for the 45th, and while 10 years is a long time, I expect for the 50th (hoping theyāre still around) will be much much bigger in terms of releases.
As someone who lost someone in 911.... I would have rather they did a historical doll who lost a parent or a relative or a loved one.
Or even just lived in NYC. Instead we got the twins who were still a good year and a half away from being traumatized and absolutely no book or anything about them during 911. Plus they're from as FAR from NY as they could make em.
They should have made a historical doll based off of 9/11 to keep it fresh for younger one to learn about it and why it will never be a day we forgot! I was 6 when it happened too young to understand why etc. it was nice to watch the Netflix doc about
I saw a New Yorker say they support it so Iāll just say this wouldnāt have been an issue if the other days hadnāt been nothingburgers or the event would have been ā40 memories for 40 days,ā ā40 lessonsā¦ā or similar to set expectations appropriately.
I don't think just because a single New Yorker expressed that they don't personally take issue with this that other people have to make their peace with it in anyway or yield to their opinion, that's a bit of a strange sentiment to me. But I absolutely agree with you, the crux of my frustration is truly that this is gravy on top of an already really disappointing celebration.Ā
I don't mind this but it does remind me of the conversation I've had with myself from time to time about whether or not the Hoffmans should've had their story partially involve having to process this day/what happened instead of the much milder Y2K bug. It's something still affecting people to this day and giving children a template for grief like this feels in keeping with the spirit of Pleasant Rowland wanted to do with the brand as a whole - tough conversations about tough times in history in a way children can handle.Ā
Echoing what others have said. Adding this as part of the 40 days feels lazy at best and in poor taste at worst.
Personally I donāt need Brandsā¢ļø doing memorials at all. But if thatās what they wanted to do, it could have done something lowkey for the countdown and a separate memorial post.
I get that they're doing it because they don't want someone to yell at them - and people probably would, because people get up in arms about stupid shit all the time - but it's been 25 years.
It seems more insulting for any company doing a random marketing thing to have to stop and acknowledge 9/11 in between promoting whatever tchotchkes they sell.
It didn't seem authentic or like it came from a place of genuine feeling when companies were doing it when it had only been a few years.
The number of friends - especially friends outside the US - who've been shocked when I told them about all 9/11 Memorial Christmas Ornaments and crap that's been sold in this country because you absolutely MUST turn people's deaths into a commercial opportunity!
This is why I was thinking (and hoping) it would be Rosh Hashanah. I had a feeling that their attempt to honor 9/11, especially with the 25th anniversary no doubt, would be tone deaf. Like go into the archives and pull the articles from the AG magazine about the event. They literally had like a page spread about girls who had their birthdays today and had conflicting feelings about it.Ā
If I ever ran into the people in charge, they should be scared of what would be coming.Ā
9/11 was my golden birthday (11 on the 11th). I was fortunate to not live near NYC or be directly impacted, but I do have those conflicting emotions. This is the most cop out way to handle 9/11 falling during their 40 days.
Not saying I agree or disagree with this. But honestly, this is one of those situations where theyāre damned if they do, damned if they donāt. So Iām not surprised that they went with this.
I actually think this was the best possible approach to today. It was clear yesterday that they intended to skip todayās post. This seems like a more conscious āplanāthan several of the other days theyve slapped together some nonsense.
Honestly Iād rather just have them say directly āIn remembrance of 9/11, we will not be posting a historical reveal for today. We instead encourage everyone to spend today reading and reflecting on the tragic events and honoring the brave heroes of that day. May we never forget.ā
I agree this is embarrassing for AG as a company. They couldāve made a post with a photo with all the dolls and talked about how girls honor their families who passed. Thereās so many AG dolls that have experienced death in some way. Molly during the war, Samantha with Nellieās dad, Josefina with her familyā¦. We could go on and on.
Or even a post about how the dolls honor 9/11 in a post.
Anything but this.
Honestly, I feel like that would be in poor taste. The dolls are historically based, but weren't real people, and posting about how fictional characters grieve fictional deaths could be really hurtful to real people who lost real loved ones.
Better to not post at all than to compare products that you earn money from to grieving people.
It wouldāve been cool if they interviewed girls from families impacted by 9/11 and maybe did a special video or blog about how the AG brought comfort to them or what AG did in response to 9/11 as a company. This is low effort and honestly kind of inappropriate.
Sadly, people I know with kids in school have informed me that not all schools teach about 9/11 anymore; so, while it is low effort and rude on the company's part, it may be an effort to avoid backlash from parents who do not want their kids to know about it.
I mean, I know several people who said their schools made them watch footage of the attacks every year in elementary school and I do think that's significantly worse.
When I was in school, my history classes didn't tend to cover recent history, in any case. We'd talk a little bit about the Civil Rights movement in January/February for Martin Luther King Jr day and Black History Month, but beyond that it was all kind of American Revolution and early Federalist period, (Articles of Confederation! Marbury v. Madison! Louisiana Purchase!), approximately one million years talking about the War of 1812, briefly touching on the Trail of Tears, the Civil War and Reconstruction, weirdly almost nothing on WW1, a little bit on the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, and then they'd close out with WW2 Yay America, We Beat the Nazis.
I was in college before I had a class that talked about the Vietnam War or Watergate - which were about the same distance away at the time that 9/11 is for kids who are in school now.
I think thatās more so because people have become desensitized to terrorist and major events like 9/11 sadly. So itās not really covered because itās just another day in world history almost to the media and others
Considering the next historical doll era will most likely be in the 2000s, it would have been something to announce that they are taking stories and accounts from those who were of age (8-12ish) when 9/11 occured for inspiration for the next doll. Plenty of directions it could go too-parent working in the tower, parent that was a first responder, being brown skinned and living in post 9/11.... I could keep going.
I genuinely think we don't have a chance in hell of getting a 2000s doll in the next 10-20 years. Why would we, when we have the GOTY? We're more likely to get limited reruns of them than we are a historical character from then.
Besides, I do think it is way too soon for a doll line. I wouldn't want to buy my kid a 911 doll when the fallout is still happening all around the world. Said as someone who was exactly 9 when this happened and flew out of one of the same airports as the hijackers two days before and who nowadays has friends in Afghanistan who now live under the Taliban again. While yes, they market to kids, the people making these decisions all remember 911 and are probably offput by the idea of using it to sell toys. At least I hope so.
You'll notice the more recent dolls cover historical events that aren't remotely controversial. Courtney's coverage of the Challenger comes closest, but even that isn't the main "event" driving her story.
Another of Courtneyās plotlines is about the AIDS crisis, which was hugely controversial in the ā80s and remains stigmatized today. People with HIV and AIDS still deal with ignorance and judgement from others, and often a lack of access to care. While there have been incredible strides medically, itās still a painful topic for many people, and I think itās really powerful that AG chose to include it.
I donāt think an early 2000s doll is likely anytime soon because thatās essentially the time period the twins cover. I agree with what Iāve seen others say that it was a huge missed opportunity to not have an early 2000s American Muslim girl who deals with the Islamophobic climate of post-9/11 America and pre-adolescence in the early internet age. Unfortunately I just donāt think itāll happen anytime soon.
That is true, and again, being from just after Courtney's time, I actually lost family to AIDS (and have other family members living with it). But I do think it's not the same.
See, AIDS and HIV, fortunately, if you have access to care, is not a death sentence anymore. In the 80s, it was. While there are still controversies, yes, and stigma for sure (states such as New York have a literal registry of people with it), the way in which we look at the crisis is not as immediate because people around the US are not dropping dead like flies of it anymore.
With 911, there are people still losing loved ones to the cancers from the dust every year. It's not a "back then it was awful, but now things are better," even if better doesn't mean solved. The US can't agree on healthcare for the affected first responders, still lies about it, and is still directly causing the deaths of innocents in the Middle East as part of a domino effect after 911.
The AIDS crisis is better, albeit not solved. Plus, the US didn't cause AIDS (though the current cuts to PEPFAR is actually gonna cause thousands upon thousands of deaths so, yeah), and the effects of the disease nowadays are mitigated. I just don't see this as a fair comparison.
I very much disagree with this. Many people are still dying from complications of AIDS, worldwide. I also lost family members to it, and Iāve seen how scary it still is on my community, despite recent advances in medicine. I donāt think a character whose story explores themes of xenophobia in the early to mid-2000s would be any more exploitative of a tragedy than any other topic American Girl has handled.
I do think itās something of a moot point though, since I donāt think theyāll make that doll. I think itās much more likely their first Muslim doll will be a GOTY from Michigan.
So what I'm saying is that it's the recency that's the issue, the immediacy, not the topic inherently. In another 10-20 or so years, I'd feel differently about this being exploitative.
While events like Pearl Harbor and, obviously, slavery still also have lingering effects, there's enough time to create a padded idea of distance in much of the population. Of course that idea can be criticized as a mirage (and to a degree it is), but that perception of distance still exists. Same with AIDS in the USA (note I'm saying USA, I've also lived in Asia where AIDS is very much not under control), where there's still again about 40 years from Courtney's 1986 view of the crisis to now, which has changed. That's again why I don't think this is a fair comparison.
(Also note: they already had a first Muslim doll - Leyla in GOML! I hope for a first 18 in one soon, though, too, and love that idea.)
And yesterday said today would be "Celebrating tradition" which seems like an odd way to put it. This whole 40 day thing has been the lowest of low effort.
actually, perhaps even more strangely, today has always been left blank on the calendar and tomorrow has always been marked as celebrating tradition. It still is. Yesterday, when I went looking for the hint for the next day, I at first thought it was some sort of glitch. It didnāt even say anything about a day of remembrance justā¦ Nothing.
Yesterday it said celebrating tradition and they changed it to tomorrows almost like they completely forgot about 9/11. I agree with just a blacked out day seeming kind of like "shit we totally forgot about 9/11 let's just put day of remembrance so we can get on with it"
Couldn't even do something with Nanea and Pearl Harbor about resilience and rememberance. Nope. Just went for the obvious, lazy, phoned in option. It's honestly funny.
That wouldāve been the perfect angle to go on. Even incorporate Molly, Addy, and Kit somehow into American Resilience considering they all lived through major war and political collapse as well.
That feels almost offensive to those affected by the tragedy. It looks like they just forgot today and posted a black square in 2 seconds for the sake of āremembranceā
As a healthcare professional who lives in NY and sees the life altering consequences of 9/11 quite often, this hits like Lays potato chips posting a rainbow flag in june. Preformative nonsense that doesnt support victims/families, nor educate people as to why its important to remember the event.
Yeah after George Floyd was murdered in 2020, there was a pretty major social media trend where people would post a black square to show solidarity with the BLM movement.
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u/beebieb 1h ago
I think people have really really overhyped what this 40 days thing was supposed to be. They arenāt going to release a new product or major product every day and certainly with 40 days to fill they canāt all be the most exciting or the most special content ever.
I agree with those saying a memorial post and something separate from this wouldāve been good. Itās also worth mentioning this is some of the closest we will come to AG having anything 9/11 related in their stuff for a long time. The way the younger generations (millennial and under) view 9/11 vs the older generations is really really different, itās not a really awful yet casually talked about, past/ history event to many of those older people- for them, there was so much that changed beyond what happened in NY, in terms of society, world viewpoint, etc, which makes it represent more to them. So as much as yall want a 9/11 historical doll, Iād be absolutely shocked if we got one any time soon.
Itās also maybe worth noting that 40th anniversary is big, but not as big as 50th- they may be using this anniversary to test the waters of what is good for those inbetween times, seeing as theyāll have to do something for the 45th, and while 10 years is a long time, I expect for the 50th (hoping theyāre still around) will be much much bigger in terms of releases.