Beat on the Bratz

I just finished reading a wonderful Wall Street Journal article about the fashion doll industry. It just so happens that the Bratz are taking market share from Barbie. Instead of idly watching the Bratz take more and more of the fashion doll market, Mattel, Barbie's toy company, is fighting back. The company said, "We're not gonna take it!" and created the Flavas. Here are some choice quotes from the article:

***The Flavas come in boxes splashed with black-and-white photos of urban scenes shot around Venice Beach. When arranged together, the boxes create a "graffiti" mural that reads: "FA SIZZLE." It is a play on the hip-hop expression "Fa' shizzle," which means "For sure." Marketing director Lisa Tauber explains that it is also an acronym that stands for "Fashion, Attitude and Sizzlin' Style." The dolls, aimed at 9- to 11-year-olds, are "all about fearless self-expression," she says.

***Mr. Larian [chief executive of MGA, the maker of Bratz] says he isn't scared by the Flavas. "The only thing that's missing is a cocaine vial," he says. "You think of Mattel, you think of Barbie and you think of sweetness....This is like 'gangster' Barbie, and I think it's going to backfire."

Note: Mattel never actually said, "We're not gonna take it!" but I couldn't help referencing the Twisted Sister song after my oh-so-witty title played on the title of a Ramones song. Hey! Maybe I should create the next punk/glam dolls for Mattel. I bet they would beat those damn Bratz.