Letters to the Editor
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Mattel are dicks but they do have good lawyers
Mattel once successfully drove a magazine out of business by claiming no one can use the Barbie name without permission, even to sell Barbies. They richly deserve the market pounding they've taken, and it's had wonderful results for little girls everywhere: today's Barbies actually look like today's celebrities, with furniture that actually looks like furniture. That's all in response to the Bratz; it wasn't true in the 90's. In the 90's when a Barbie was proposed with a nose piercing, it was quickly altered to be more palatable to parents of small children. Hey, let's make sure that fashion dolls don't accidentally expose children to, let's see, actual fashion! Pre-Bratz Barbie was stuck in a candy-coated dreamworld.
(Aside: it's neither Mattel nor MGA's fault that today's real celebrities look like trash. Art imitates life, not the other way around - if you have a problem, take it up with Paris Hilton.)
The sad thing is that the Bratz are clearly in decline. They've stopped packaging fun accessories and extra outfits with their dolls, and their current outfits are clearly cost-cutters. As a brand they've started to flail, introducing fairy dolls and hair play dolls - these days, they're more Barbie than Barbie.