Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Are these dolls totally inappropriate?

284 replies

Itsbeen84yearss · 09/09/2021 08:00

Just seen the ad for these on channel 5 (in between peppa episodes). Marketed as ‘opposites’? I might be being bad minded but these look highly sexualised to me. I bought my dd an lol doll once but I think it had a school uniform on. Didn’t look like these at all. Why are they like this now?? Surely it’s sending all sorts of bad messages to kids

Are these dolls totally inappropriate?
OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
Mummadeze · 09/09/2021 08:02

Lots of dolls look like this now. They don’t look sexualised to me. Just fun and fashionable.

EmeraldRaine · 09/09/2021 08:03

Not a chance in hell i would be buying my children anything like that. Gross.

MrsHookey · 09/09/2021 08:04

I found one lol doll wearing fishnets! Agree they are highly sexualised.

Crowtooyo · 09/09/2021 08:04

It's a no for me.

OneTC · 09/09/2021 08:06

Lots of dolls look like this now. They don’t look sexualised to me. Just fun and fashionable.

The one on the right is dressed in fetish wear

Magenta82 · 09/09/2021 08:06

That one in red looks like she is on her way to a fetish club

KidneyBeans · 09/09/2021 08:09

@Mummadeze

Lots of dolls look like this now. They don’t look sexualised to me. Just fun and fashionable.
Where do you live that red latex or tutus are fashionable?
Whinge · 09/09/2021 08:13

YANBU OP, the one on the right is awful Shock

It's actually called OMG Spicy Babe 🤢

Amazon site link

sweeneytoddsrazor · 09/09/2021 08:14

They don't look any different to Bratz dolls which were incredibly popular about 10 years ago

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 09/09/2021 08:15

LOL dolls have always been sexualised IMO. I don't know how they got away with it.

If 'fashion' is zip up leather hot pants (like the one DD 'unboxed' three years ago... no thanks. I refused to buy more due to that and the obscene amount of wrapping. That one had been a present.

Potteringshed · 09/09/2021 08:17

Where do you live that red latex or tutus are fashionable?

Looks like the kind of clothes I'd see young people wearing to go clubbing in Glasgow or London. Not necessarily fetish wear - trendy but a bit alt I'd say. No more sexualised than Bratz or Barbie.

Smeds · 09/09/2021 08:17

'Fashion' doesn't need to look like that when its target audience is young children. I don't know any adults who would wear those clothes.

canigooutyet · 09/09/2021 08:19

I think they look worse than bratz. If I had young children, wouldn't have these in my house either, of course I was the big meany for about 10 seconds when I refused bratz in the house

choli · 09/09/2021 08:23

Surely it’s sending all sorts of bad messages to kids
What messages do you think these dolls send that is any worse than Barbie?

Manzana · 09/09/2021 08:23

yanbu, I wouldn't have bought these types of dolls for my children. Have a look at Tree Change Dolls on Facebook, that's how dollies should look, like a friend.

Naunet · 09/09/2021 08:23

@Mummadeze

Lots of dolls look like this now. They don’t look sexualised to me. Just fun and fashionable.
I used to be a latex model, the outfit on the right is exactly like something I would have worn, it would have come from a latex/fetish shop like Libidex - and considered fetish gear.
OneTC · 09/09/2021 08:32

Looks like the kind of clothes I'd see young people wearing to go clubbing in Glasgow or London. Not necessarily fetish wear - trendy but a bit alt I'd say. No more sexualised than Bratz or Barbie.

You are out of your tree

FuckingFlumps · 09/09/2021 08:37

Looks like the kind of clothes I'd see young people wearing to go clubbing in Glasgow or London. Not necessarily fetish wear - trendy but a bit alt I'd say. No more sexualised than Bratz or Barbie.

I suggest you actually go and look at a queue of young adults standing waiting to get into a club because trust me not one of them will be wearing anything even remotely resembling these outfits.

I agree OP they are incredibly sexulised and I certainly wouldn't want any of the young people I know playing with them or thinking the outfits they are wearing are normal attire.

Ylvamoon · 09/09/2021 08:42

Ahh they remind me if a well known cartoon character!

Are these dolls totally inappropriate?
KurtWilde · 09/09/2021 08:43

Not much different to Bratz dolls imo and my eldest DD loved them.

User5490453456 · 09/09/2021 08:44

I have inside knowledge on how the company markets these dolls. The whole image is based off "coolest girl in class" and the products are extremely expensive. It's primarily targeted to tweens/teens and the pester power they give their parents because having a doll is like being friends with the cool girl. The company spends enormous sums of money on influencer marketing (eg someone getting paid four figures to attend a single pr event, which is almost always unpaid in influencer marketing). They make sure the brand is associated with real life idols of these young girls which heightens pester power.

To be honest the outfits aren't really the issue. They're supposed to be edgy and a bit sexy and I wouldn't be surprised if they're based on fetish costumes. However at a glance, the doll on the left is inspired by "soft girl/fairy kei/gothic lolita" fashion which is very popular online, and the one on the right is a dupe for Kim Kardashian. Basically girls don't buy the dolls because of the sexiness factor even though it might look that way to adults. The selling point of those dolls are the surprise factor (there are tons of cheap plastic tat in each set to unpack) and the exclusivity and hype.

The outfits may appear inappropriate but no worse than what girls see on celebrities or a casual flip through Instagram. It'll also be a stretch to say the dolls are a bad influence since teen girls will eventually get exposed to slutty content all over social media anyway. The dolls are simply money making machines because of the huge markup and the fact that girls are pressured into wanting something that's reasonably well over any parent's budget. The prices range from £20 (blind boxes that cost £5 from other brands) to £200+ (dollhouses).

It feels like a gateway into irresponsible spending as an adult. The idea that something is priced just out of reach but you "have to have it". It's also introduces kids to status symbols and judging or being judged for no being able to afford something.

zenthoughtsonlythanks · 09/09/2021 08:44

It would be a definite no for me. Lots of young girls dress like this, and it is easy to see why. They are being encouraged to wear highly sexualised clothes from a younger and younger age.

zenthoughtsonlythanks · 09/09/2021 08:45

Bratz dolls are the same. Even the name bratz is repulsive.

NewlyGranny · 09/09/2021 08:54

Manzana, I was going to say Tree Change dolls and the lovely lady who 'rescues' them! She's in Tassie*, I think.
*Tasmania

Those dolls are abhorrent in the message they give little girls about what they are expected to grow into. They look like little hookers who've had 'work' and just like Disney heroines (apart from Fiona) their heads are wider than their waists.

And we wonder why adolescent girls get eating disorders or try to flee womanhood by resorting to puberty blockers or double mastectomies. 😭

aSofaNearYou · 09/09/2021 08:55

I suggest you actually go and look at a queue of young adults standing waiting to get into a club because trust me not one of them will be wearing anything even remotely resembling these outfits.

I don't think it's real life in which this is fashion, I think it's the music industry. Try watching some if you haven't already, these two are like a toned down version of what you see in 90% of recent music vids.