Dyson Professor Emilie Zaslow, an expert in American Girl, talks about how the famed doll company is facing a backlash while promoting inclusion in an article published by The MinnPost.
American Girl built itself around themes like history, girlhood, initiative and innocence. The characters’ wholesome image — combined with expensive dolls that are designed and marketed as something to be explicitly cared for — means that the brand is also one that is “appreciated by more conservative families,” said Emilie Zaslow, a professor and chair of communication and media studies at Pace University and the author of “Playing with America’s Doll: A Cultural Analysis of the American Girl Collection.”