An Open Letter to American Girl's Social Media Team

To American Girl's social media team,

It pains me to say this. It pains me every time I have to criticize the brand that I love. But yesterday's post on your social media has given me yet another reason to criticize the corporate machine that has taken control of the dolls that I grew up with. Why? Because instead of hiring a real artist to commemorate the anniversary of a popular TV show, you generated AI "art" of Coconut.

I could probably name dozens of artists who would have loved to dress Coconut up like Hannah Montana. Dozens of photographers, dozens of painters, dozens of fan artists, dozens of real-life human artists who would love to put their heart and soul into a project for the dolls they grew up with. Instead, you chose to have a machine generate something meant to be human.

Kirsten and her friends, by hand, sewed a quilt together. Saige fought to prevent the arts from being defunded at her school. Gabriela used her words together to create poetry to save the arts center her mom owned. Maryellen drew cartoons in class. Samantha wrote a moving speech to convince people that sweatshops weren't progress. Lea was able to take incredible pictures of Brazil and the Amazon. All of these beloved American Girl stories showcase stories of artists. Writers. Photographers. Cartoonists. Creatives. Those who have their livelihoods threatened due to AI. And instead of empowering the young women that grew up with the brand and would want to create art like this, you chose to pinch pennies and generate slop.

American Girl has changed ever since Mattel took further oversight of the company around 2022, and not for the better. Stories have been cut. Corners have been cut. The voices of the girls of tomorrow have been silenced. And as we live in an America that is more challenging than ever, where girl's voices and creativity matter more than ever, seeing the very brand that taught me what it was to create and love myself for who I was, that I saw as a safe space when I was bullied, turn towards AI content instead of human-made pieces of love is yet another blow to the company that once represented everything that it meant to be an American Girl.

Do better, American Girl social media team.

From,

An American Girl fan of 13 years who is getting fed up with the current direction of the brand