Empowered by Play » Moxie Girlz and Liv Girls http://www.empoweredbyplay.org Helping families and teachers protect and promote imaginative play in our way-too-busy, consumer-driven, media-filled world. Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:26:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Liv Girls and Moxie Girlz…move over Bratz http://www.empoweredbyplay.org/2009/08/liv-girls-and-moxie-girlz-move-over-bratz-2/ http://www.empoweredbyplay.org/2009/08/liv-girls-and-moxie-girlz-move-over-bratz-2/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:40:00 +0000 Geralyn http://www.empoweredbyplay.com/2009/08/liv-girls-and-moxie-girlz-move-over-bratz-2/ Yesterday I wrote about the new Moxie Girlz…today it is yet another way-too-cool doll line, Liv Girls. Liv Girls includes an online world that you can enter for only $19.99 (plus $9.99 for shipping and handling). These “four fun-loving teens who love to hang out together” (but, alas, are sold separately) come with a [...]]]>
Yesterday I wrote about the new Moxie Girlz…today it is yet another way-too-cool doll line, Liv Girls. Liv Girls includes an online world that you can enter for only $19.99 (plus $9.99 for shipping and handling). These “four fun-loving teens who love to hang out together” (but, alas, are sold separately) come with a “secret code” that unlocks a virtual world where young girls can “read the Liv Girls’ super secret diaries” and take “snap shots” of the Liv Girls “having all kinds of super adventures and place them in a scrapbook to share with friends.”

Ugh! Here we go again with another “virtual” world where kids are pulled away from actual interactions with friends and family members. Authentic relationships and experiences are pushed aside, as this electronic world seduces vulnerable youngsters who (like anyone) want to belong. The ad is scary when you really look at what they are saying…
“Live in our world”
“Real Girls, Real Lives”
“There is so much to do!”
“This is where all our lives totally come together!”
Gee, thanks, Spin Master, Ltd for making the world a better place for our children. We really needed another way to keep our kids plugged into the internet, living pretend lives – away from books, nature and actual human interactions.
I’m trying to figure out if this new generation of dolls is any less offensive than their predecessor Bratz. It looks like the advertisers are going for a more wholesome look, but the effect is the same for me. Teenagers aren’t playing with these dolls – but very young girls are. And now the young girls can even “live” in an online virtual teenage world. To me, that’s getting worse, not better.
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