A few people have been talking about this in the American Girl fandom, but I figured as a doll blogger in this community, talking about this issue is something that is important for me. If I were to promote this collab without talking about this issue, it would be a failure of my values, and a failure for me as a human being.
So tomorrow, the American Girl x Posh Peanut collab of girl and adult clothing is supposed to release. However, a few American Girl fans have noticed racist actions that the Posh Peanut CEO have embarked in, such as culturally appropriating Native American culture and images of dolls of color like Kaya, Addy and Josefina being supposedly drawn with lighter skin tones than the dolls actually have.
We know for a fact that the American Girl corporation, and Mattel as a whole, isn't the greatest with these issues, especially this decade. After pledging to make American Girl more diverse when it was profitable to declare so, a small doll collection of diverse dolls was released, and then ignored. A new African American historical character was released, only to be overshadowed by over TWENTY new Truly Me dolls, and a collaboration with a known brand with a openly transphobic and racist creator. When a transgender-inclusive advice book was released and transphobic parents complained, the book was promptly retired and the author of the book was laid off. And let's not forget that the CEO of Mattel has been racist towards Palestinians and regularly donates to aid the genocide going on in Gaza.
Anyway, the point is not to boss you around about what to do with your own money. I don't control your wallet. However, if you care about the values Pleasant Company was founded on in the 80s and 90s, about empowerment of women and girls everywhere, no matter their race, there is something you can do with your money rather than supporting this collab:
Donate here to promote Native American rights and tribal natural resources: https://narf.org/support-us/
Donate here to promote racial equality for Black people: https://naacp.org/donate
Donate here to support the Latine community in the United States: https://unidosus.org/donate/
Donate here to support families in need in Gaza: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vtMLLOzuc6GpkFySyVtKQOY2j-Vvg0UsChMCFst_WLA/edit?gid=1653697245#gid=1653697245
When the bank didn't let Melody's sister get a job because she was Black, she promptly went to the bank to take money out of her account. If she can do that, the least we can do is not condone the racist behavior of the Posh Peanut CEO and refrain from supporting this specific collab.