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Scholastic Cuts
‘Bratz’ Products for Book Clubs and Fairs
Motoko Rich
The New York times
September 22, 2008
The Bratz dolls, a frequent target of those who bemoan
the hyper-sexualization of young girls, have taken
another hit.
Scholastic Inc., the children’s publisher, will no
longer include chapter books based on the overtly sexy
Bratz dolls in any of its school book clubs or fairs
this year — and an advocacy group is taking credit for
the decision.
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, based in
Boston, said that Scholastic’s move followed an 18-month
fight to purge book club fliers that go home with
students and are distributed at school book fairs of
titles like “Lil’ Bratz: Dancin’ Divas” and “Lil’ Bratz:
Catwalk Cuties.” Scholastic has also stopped offering
spinoff products, like a Bratz computer game and
designer stencil kit, in its book clubs and fairs.
Susan Linn, director of the campaign, said the group’s
members had sent 5,000 e-mail messages to Scholastic
protesting the highly sexualized images in the Bratz
books and products. “When schools send these book club
fliers home with children,” Ms. Linn said, “the message
is that ‘We think these are fine and are good for your
child.’ ”
Scholastic, which generates roughly a third of its
revenue from the book clubs and fairs, said its decision
to withdraw the Bratz books was influenced as much by
dwindling sales as it was by the campaign’s push. Judy
Newman, president of Scholastic Book Clubs, said she
also solicited the opinions of editors, teachers and
librarians to help choose the titles included in the
book clubs and fairs.
Ms. Newman said she met with a representative from the
campaign in Boston earlier this year. But, she said, “I
can’t be directed by anyone’s special interest.” She
added: “That would almost be censorship.”
Parents who had written e-mail messages to Scholastic
were pleased with the disappearance of the Bratz books.
But they were also concerned that other books tied to
popular television shows, movies and toys still appear
in the book club fliers or at book fairs. “There are a
lot of books that are more just gimmicky,” said Allison
Sharma, a technology consultant and mother of two in
Newton, Mass. “They aren’t real books.”
Some teachers said that books tied to shows like “Hannah
Montana” or “Star Wars” might be the only things some
children would read. “There comes a point where if it’s
something that’s going to get a kid to start reading,
you want to get that hook in there,” said Jennifer
Vaillancourt, who teaches third and fourth grade at the
Ramsey International Fine Arts Center in Minneapolis.
But, she added, “I think the bottom line is the Bratz
are inappropriate.” |
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