I got a couple blog comments on my past post that really, really made me think.
Shortly after, I made a trip to the Google webpage. I found myself furiously typing the name Pleasant Rowland into the searchbox.
Before I knew it, I was reading all about Ms. Pleasant.
Turns out, she's totally forgotten all about American Girl, her very own company. Gosh darnit, I bet she doesn't even have a subscription to the catalogs (I knew it..). Pleasant founded AG in 1986. Woah, thats a long time ago. Its almost been 25 years. Next year is the anniversary, for pete's sake. Pleasant made the company in inspiration of the fact that there were no middle-aged dolls around. I'm very glad SOMEONE realized. Barbies and baby dolls are just too.. ick. (But I guess I shouldn't hate on barbies, since Mattel, our 'master', owns the barbie company too?)
Since then, Pleasant has sold the company to Mattel for $770 million, purchased a different company, and made a foundation. My oh my, she has a lot on her plate.
Did you know, that if Mattel hadn't bought the company, American Girl might not have been so... well, American? That was a real disappointment to me, because I wouldn't have minded a more international-based company.
Here it says that Pleasant and her husband Jerome are now major philanthropists in Wisconsin. Does anyone want to tell me what the heck does this long word mean?
WOAH. Pleasant is also in an ongoing debate about preservation and development. My god, what does this woman NOT do?
And some guy named John R. Lennon (not the John Lennon of the Beatles, I know, its disappointing) wrote a book roughly based on what Pleasant Rowland did. About preservation. And her foundations. And her projects.
She probably doesn't even know whats going on..
Which is the real, tragic part.
Would it be too much, to come up to her door, knock on it, and simply say, "Can you come and buy AG back?". I hope not, because I'm intending on doing that.
But then again, I guess she'd be kinda freaked, seeing a talking doll on her doorstep...
I wonder what color her house is? What her life is like? Is her house the color of the AG logo? Is she happy without AG?
-Sonali
I doubt that Pleasant Rowland has forgotten about American Girl, then called the Pleasant Company. She sold the company to make money, but you can't forget something that you created-- it's like a brainchild. When people see terrible things happening, though, they distance themselves from the pain to avoid being affected by it. I think Ms. Rowland is probably sad and a little angry about what Mattel is doing, but there's not much she can do, having sold the company to them years ago, and buying AG back now would cost billions, considering how much it's made. So she goes on with her life and tries to make a difference in a different way.
ReplyDelete~Emmalee
PS: A philanthropist is pretty much a person who donates money to charities to better the world.
Someone should really go down there just to tell her what's going on.
ReplyDeleteRead the Last two paragraphs of this article : http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/success1/ch60.html
ReplyDeleteit is kinda an autobiography about Plesant Rowland. she said that she never felt much of an attachment to the company, and that she gave it over to the company that created Barbie just because she felt a connection with the owner because she had an explosive busness oppertunity with barbie years before. the reason she created AG was to give an alternitive to Barbie!
Pleasant Rowland, why oh why did you sell AG? Maybe for the 770 million, but Pleasant Company was a line of dolls that were rich in history and culture. And she had amazing ideas that shaped the Dolly world. Well, Mattel isn't doing absolutely horrible. There would be no GOTY without them, no Rebecca Rubin or Kit Kittredge, or Kaya. But there are a lot of things that Mattel is doing that I HIGHLY disagree with, things I really doubt Pleasant Rowland would've done!
ReplyDelete-Noeelleee :D