Reply to Felicity letter...

[americangirllvr]

I was just reading some old posts about Felicity, and I remembered that I got an email reply from American Girl:

Dear Amy,

Thank you for your e-mail. Although Felicity? no longer appears in our
catalogue, she has not been retired and is still available for purchase
by phone, through our website at www.americangirlstore.com, and at
American Girl Place? in both Chicago and New York.

It is true that some outfits and accessories have been discontinued in
each of our historical collections. Over the past few years, we have
seen some of the outfits and accessory pieces are no longer popular
purchases and demand for them has decreased considerably. As a result,
we have found it necessary to discontinue some items from our
warehouse,
as well as from our catalogue.

We appreciate your continued interest in Felicity, and the time you
took
to share your perspective. Please be assured your comments have been
noted.

At American Girl?, we value lasting friendships with our customers.
Consequently, comments are important to us and yours will be forwarded
to the appropriate department for review. We appreciate your
understanding as we make necessary adjustments to our catalogue and
collections. We hope you will continue to be a fan of American Girl in
spite of the changes.

Sincerely,

American Girl? Customer Service
Phone: 1-800-845-0005 or 608-831-5210
Fax: 608-828-4790
Available Monday - Sunday 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. Central Time

Well, I already knew that some outfits had been retired and that she's not in the catalog anymore. I think everyone noticed that.

[rachie421]

Hmmmm....Since when was American Girl mostly about sales rather than quality and owning something to treasure forever? I dont know about you guys, but I really hate the fact that mattel owns AG now. And shame on Pleasant Rowland for selling out to a company that ruined it. I really dont understand (well, the money thats why) she sold to mattel since her big thing was she didnt want girls to only have Barbies and baby dolls to play with. I think the original historical line was great for the way it educated and made history interesting to girls who often dont like the subject. Everything that they have added since I think deviates from that. Including the AG today as cute as the products maybe. The main reason why I grew out of AG was because of the way the way they started focusing so much on AG today and only certain characters in the historical line, Samantha and Molly. But thats just my humble opinion. What do you guys think?
Rachie421

[Felicityexpert]

FORM LETTER FORM LETTER FORM LETTER!
I swear in another post there's one almost exactly like that. Let's see if I can find it...

I dont know about you guys, but I really hate the fact that mattel owns AG now. And shame on Pleasant Rowland for selling out to a company that ruined it. I really dont understand (well, the money thats why) she sold to mattel since her big thing was she didnt want girls to only have Barbies and baby dolls to play with. I think the original historical line was great for the way it educated and made history interesting to girls who often dont like the subject. Everything that they have added since I think deviates from that. Including the AG today as cute as the products maybe. The main reason why I grew out of AG was because of the way the way they started focusing so much on AG today and only certain characters in the historical line, Samantha and Molly. But thats just my humble opinion. What do you guys think?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You've come to the right place. That's the majority opinion of the board and part of the reason for SOAGC.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ November 27, 2004 10:19 AM: Message edited by: Felicity+Addyfan ]</font>

[vew-tori]

We came to AG in 1999 with the addition of Nicki (Bitty) to our family. We have always been very happy with the quality of merchandise. My DD moved up to Molly this past summer so we don't have anything pre-mattel to compare to but we continue to be pleased with quality.

I on the other hand grew up with Mattel and Barbie. I had countless hours of play and fun with them. I know Barbie/Mattel has changed over the years but Barbie bashing bothers me. There are alot of children who can't afford AG (and some who can but chose Barbie.) Dolls in general stir the imagination and teach children to nurture, explore, and be creative. IMO we should promote the love of all dolls.
AG (pre-mattel or post mattel) is tops on my list and I feel fortunate to be able to share it with my family and this board.

[Felicityexpert]

I can't find it! Darn! I'll keep looking.

[TaffyCheerful]

Originally posted by rachie421:
... And shame on Pleasant Rowland for selling out to a company that ruined it. I really don't understand (well, the money that's why) she sold to Mattel since her big thing was she didn't want girls to only have Barbies and baby dolls to play with.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">According to Ms. Rowland, and she said this in several interviews, she felt she had done everything she could with the company and needed to move on. I am not convinced her decision to sell was about the money, although it was quite a tidy sum, but rather her need to do something else with her life after investing a good piece of it in building a very successful company that, in the beginning, virtually everyone told her would not work.

At the time of the sale, Mattel had a different CEO in whom Ms. Rowland felt a kindred spirit. That individual was later replaced by the current CEO, a former cheese marketeer from Kraft Foods who, based on a reply to a letter I sent him, clearly had no concept of what the American Girl sales model was about. Corporations are free to change their leadership and, as we have seen recently, many companies have promoted greedy, boneheaded idiots to positions of power.

Taffy

[Felicityexpert]

Dear Elizabeth,

Thank you for your e-mail. Although Felicity(R) has been retired from
our printed catalogue, we do not have plans to discontinue her at this
time. A classic collection of her most popular outfits, furniture, and
accessories will remain available for purchase on our Web site at
www.americangirlstore.com. Her books will continue to be sold via our
online store, through our catalogue, and at bookstores throughout the
country.

Please know that the decision to retire Felicity from our catalogue was
an extremely difficult one to make. We know we are disappointing many
fans who love to see Felicity in our catalogues and enjoy learning
about
this pivotal time in American history. Unfortunately, space
limitations
in our catalogue have necessitated that we remove Felicity in order to
make room for new characters and product lines.

At American Girl, we value lasting friendships with our customers, and
we are dedicated to providing you with quality products and service.
We
hope your family will continue to be enthusiastic and loyal fans of
American Girl.

Sincerely,
American Girl? Catalogue Customer Service

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree Taffy. It's that idiot Mr. Eckhart or whatever his name is.
What I hate about that letter is it's like "we know we are dissipointing many of our fans, we know we are neglecting to teach about what is one of, if not the most important part of American history, we just don't give a c***, it's all about the money.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ November 27, 2004 11:34 AM: Message edited by: Felicity+Addyfan ]</font>

[rachie421]

Aha! So thats the reason! The switching of CEOs makes sense. Cuz I would hope there was more to it than just selling the company and having them change it from the get go. Maybe we should start a petition to have him fired? Anyone with me? [img]wink.gif[/img]

[littledarling]

Originally posted by rachie421:
I think the original historical line was great for the way it educated and made history interesting to girls who often dont like the subject. Everything that they have added since I think deviates from that. Including the AG today as cute as the products maybe.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">First, weren't the Today dolls introduced before the company was sold?

And I don't think everything has deviated from the original concept. Girls of Many Lands was wonderful, I thought, because the books taught world history. I saw an article where they said the reason they were launching that line was because they thought American Girls today (meaning real girls, not the dolls, lol) should know world history as well as American history.

Not all the products they sold before were about history either. Atleast, I don't believe Bitty Baby has anything to do with teaching girls history. But it is still important and I like that they offer that. I think the concept behind Hopscotch Hill School is a good one as well.

It looks to me more like the problem might be them deviating from the huggable dolls with lots of accessories. I liked the GOMLs but you can't really hug them. And they only have that one outfit. Some girls probably like dolls solely for display, but I think the majority of those interested in AG like dolls they can hug and play with, even girls older than the target age group (actually, GOMLs were for an older age group, I kinda wonder if they didn't realize that older girls would also want dolls they can do things with). Not that there is anything wrong with other dolls, just that the huggable ones are what made the company. I never really played much with Barbie, because she was so small. AGs are more welcoming to me.

[Felicityexpert]

You hit it right on the mark littledarling. What people often forget is that even before Mattel purchesed Pleasent Company there were lines that did not focus on history.
I too am a big GOML fan, but I do believe they could've approched it differently. There should've been additional outfit's and accessories you could purchese for your dolls. What amazes me is how much seemed to be planed for the GOMLs, and how little was actually produced. The trademarks list not only doll clothing and accessories, but postcards, paperdolls, software, among others.