American Girl dolls are the latest attempt to win pre-pubescent girls' hearts and separate their parents from their disposable income. A very successful attempt too, it appears, for some 16 million American Girl dolls have been sold in the 20-odd years since the company was founded.
They don't come cheap either: a standard Just Like You doll with the same hair colour, eye colour and skin tone as your daughter plus a (non-working) mobile phone for their "mini-me" costs a stately $110 (plus tax). And for a trifling $60 more, girls can get matching clothes for themselves and their plastic alter egos.
But that's just the beginning.
We visited the American Girl shop in Chicago, a sprawling multi-level store selling not only the classic American Girl dolls but also so-called "historical" figures like Felicity in her tea lesson (sic!) gown, Josefina in her fiesta dress, and Kaya in her "dance dress of today" (?). Step upstairs and you can even throw a party for your doll(s) and/or those of your friends, or take her to the Doll Hospital to re-fasten the limbs your brother's Action Man ruthlessly amputated.
But the crème-de-la-crème for me was the hairdresser's salon, where you could get your doll's hair done in the style of your choosing or the style-of-the-week, all for $20-25.
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* It has been calculated that a life-size Barbie would have a 39-18-33 figure and be 7'6" tall.
** Technically this should be "upper middle-class" since everyone in America considers themselves middle class and no-one working class.
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