This title was easy - just take "Pink Pussycat" from Devo
I was all worried about the 8 year old's reaction to the live Barbie, and then I read this Celebrity Smack post:
Give Your Daughter a Slut Doll!
Which Pussycat Doll does your daughter most resemble?
She then showed a picture of the dolls, along with their clothing (or what there was of it).
The new Pussycat Dolls are manufactured by Hasbro, are marketed to 6-9 year olds and will be sold for about $15 each.
I was initially too dim to realize that this is the reverse of the Barbie thing. Barbie started out as a doll and ended up live. The Pussycat Dolls are a band that became...dolls.
Here's some of what the New York Times says:
When Robin Antin, a Los Angeles choreographer, decided 11 years ago to assemble a burlesque-inspired nightclub revue, she called it the Pussycat Dolls as a nod to her vision of "making everyone look like a real, living doll."
Interscope Records is taking her words literally.
The record company, which along with Ms. Antin revamped the act as an R&B-influenced pop group and released its first CD last year, has struck a deal with Hasbro, the toy maker, to create a line of fashion dolls modeled on its six members. The toy line — which aims to mimic the act's playfully risqué style — is expected to be on sale by this year's holiday season. Hasbro executives estimate the dolls, intended for children aged 6 to 9, will be priced around $15, with the label receiving a royalty on sales....
In the Pussycat Dolls' case, the company struck a unique deal with Ms. Antin in 2003 in which the two sides split the profits from all the act's ventures. So far, the Pussycat Dolls' name has landed on a cosmetics line from Stila, until recently a unit of Estée Lauder, and on a nightclub at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
The toy line, however, reflects perhaps the most ambitious effort yet to generate extra revenue since the group achieved mainstream success. Managing to score at toy retailers would also illustrate how elastic the aura of a manufactured pop act can be, as the Pussycat Dolls straddle the image of late-night lounge dancers and child-friendly pop singers at the same time....
The Pussycat Dolls did not start with a G-rated image. The group stormed the charts last August with its first big single, "Don't Cha," a steamy tease that included the lyric "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me/ Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?"
Oh, now I can place them. I've heard the song occasionally on the radio.
But the act's next song, "Stickwitu," was a softer ballad that received airplay on outlets like Radio Disney....
Ms. John conceded the Pussycat Dolls packaging might be a bit racy for Hasbro consumers. "Bratz has pushed the envelope in this area and has been extraordinarily successful," she said. "I don't think we're trying to push the envelope any further, but we're trying to add an aspect of realism. These are people that have real careers."
Hmm...introducing reality into the doll world. Now THAT's a concept. So are we going to put the Kobe Bryant doll and the Michael Jackson doll into real-life situations? And don't forget the Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton dolls. And the Jimmy Swaggart doll.
Looks like kids will only be able to go into Toys R Us if they're accompanied by a parent. Ouch.
Needless to say, the blogosphere is, as usual, coming down on the side of ultimate freedom. Hippie Librarian (who may or may not be hot):
Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid
Hasbro is marketing dolls of the...slut group "The Pussycat Dolls" to six to nine year olds.
Papa Razzi offers this:
Hasbro Wants your Daughters to be Sluts...
In case you don't know who or what the Pussycat Dolls are...they were originally just a group of girls performing a burlesque show. But about 10 years after the creation of this group, the "owner" of the Dolls decided to start from scratch...he hired all new girls who would perform both as burlesque dancers as well as be a pop singing group...a la the Spice Girls. The picture above is a fairly tame picture of the girls. Many websites have posted pictures of them where they are unintentionally (?) showing more than we need to see during their concerts/shows.
But now, famous toy company Hasbro has come out with dolls for your children to play with based on this group. Is this really the message we want to be sending to our kids? "Someday sweetie...you can grow up to be a barely-clothed whore who shows off her hoo hoo to strangers all over the world. I would be soooooooo proud of you!"
Faded Youth writes opinions in a post entitled Sex Toys for Kids:
Hasbro -- the toy giant behind My Little Pony, G.I. Joe and the Transformers -- is set to produce the skanky, 12-inch figurines decked out in poom-poom shorts and barely-there lace tops, which will hit stores just in time for Christmas at the suggested retail price of $14.99.
Conicidentally, that is the same price the girls used to charge before they got the whole singing gig.
Double ouch with cherries on top.
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