The Stuff That Sells: Bratz Girls and their air of racial mystique

¹Bratz dolls, one of the most popular toys from the past decade, are also some of the most controversial. The doll was created in 2001 by MGA Entertainment, a toy company founded by now CEO Isaac Larian.² They are marketed as the “girls with a passion for fashion”, and though the key focus of the brand as a whole is on friendship and moral lessons, the dolls hold an entirely different message based on their visual presentation. They are, in a word, sexy. When you get past their overly made up faces; large come-hither eyes and pouty lip-lined lips, and their belly shirt/micro mini clad bodies, you might notice that they are each have unique features and skin tones. MGA did a fine job in making sure that they created a diverse group of characters. The multiculturalism might be a positive attribute, but it goes unaddressed in all of the market branding. The identities of the original Bratz girls- Jade, Yasmin, Sasha and Cloe, are mere product ploys designed to fulfill the new and unspoken multicultural toy requirement that exists in the toy marketing industry. It is as though MGA saw the multiple controversies surrounding black Barbie dolls, and decided to evade such misdemeanors by investing in multiple colors of plastic at the start of the Bratz creation. Because their racial identities are ignored, it becomes difficult to actually attribute their races as anything but superficial and ornamental. If the goal of multicultural inclusion is to provide positive images for young people to resonate with and relate to, then (a) why are the Bratz dolls left with ambiguous racial identities, and (b) why are they such hypersexual beings?

The dolls are only part of a larger Bratz multi-media conglomerate. The Bratz brand covers a number of other dolls-Lil' Bratz, Bratz Boyz, Bratz Kidz, Bratz Babyz, Itsy Bitsy Bratz, Bratz Lil' Angelz, Be-Bratz and Bratz Petz, clothing, school supplies, activity books, novels, television series, music albums, interactive DVDs, as well as both animated and live-action films. This study focuses mainly on the dolls themselves as hypersexualized/hyperracialized entities, as well as on the live-action film, Bratz: The Movie (2007), and the depiction of the Bratz as real, walking, talking young women.

This study may be a piece of a larger discussion on feminism and racism, or rather the racist tendencies of the feminist movement. There has been an abundant amount of discussion of Bratz and their sexy bodies in academia, but little discussion of Bratz and their sexy/unquestioned raced bodies. Their sex appeal is an important aspect of their personas, and is tied into their racial identities. Therefore, to begin a discussion on Bratz, I will address their pervasive sexual identities before investigating their raced entities.

The marketing industry operates under the standard rule- KGOY- kids are getting older younger. This concept has been created by the marketing industry itself, though it seems like it is being viewed as some sort of biological shift within the nations’ female youth. In M. Gigi Durham’s book, The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It, she reckons with the term “Lolita,” and its origin, Nabakov’s classic novel, Lolita. The character in the novel is a young, fourteen year old girl who is taken advantage of both sexually and emotionally by her stepfather, Humbert Humbert. Though she is coquettish and flirty, she is ultimately the sympathetic character, as she is without any agency. Nabokov referred to this trope; the beautifully innocent nine to fourteen-year-old girl, as a nymphet.

As a character trope in today’s society, however, “Lolita” is now the villainess, all powerful and manipulative young woman. Though she isn’t legally an adult, she has the ability to pray on grown men, chewing them up and spitting them out at whim. She is pure sex, and intentionally so. Humburt’s position was that of the victim, under this modern interpretation. This has caused many young women to evolve into prostitots, a term that Durham defines as hypersexualized girls whose cultural presence has become a matter of public controversy. These girls have fallen under the spell of the Lolita Effect

And who is responsible for this? Though blaming the media may be shortsighted and simplistic, advertizing, and specifically Bratz dolls, have played a major role in the overwhelming acceptance of little girls and their projected sexual images. Bratz, the girls with a passion for fashion, supposedly promote self expression and give girls a chance to explore their self-identities, are seemingly only interested in accessorizing (accessoreez, as they call them), boys (boyz), and partying.³

The Bratz are perfect examples of a product that has gained immense popularity due to their incredibly sexual bodies. The marketing industry no longer worries about crossing lines of societal appropriateness when creating toys for girls, and Bratz are clear proof. Susan Linn’s description of Bratz and their initial vantage point is completely spot on,

Sometime during the past few years, Mattel discovered that the age for playing with Barbie dolls was slipping. Once the favorite of older girls, Barbie was now being relegated to the preschool market. What’s a toy company to do? Enter the Bratz. The Bratz hit the market as the brand that was going to bring tweens back to doll play. They are hip and sexy-much sexier than Barbie, who, in spite of her conical breasts and tiny waist, always seems fairly asexual, even in a bathing suit. Not the Bratz. The Bratz radiate a cartoon-like, street-smart, in-your-face combination of sex and toughness. On the official Bratz web site, they are posed to show off their lush butts and melon-sized breasts. ⁴

There is no skirting this issue- the Bratz are the epitome of the new-age Lolita. But their seduction is two fold. They appear to conform to the multicultural requirements of the toy industry, but that is simply lost behind their front of hypersexuality. MGA created dolls that could not be described as overtly ethnically exclusionary, and knowing that sex both appeals and sells to young girls, marketed them in the most sexually brazen way possible. But why are their identities so important? As Anna Wagner-Ott writes Analysis of Gender Identity Through Doll and Action Figure Politics in Art Education, “[m]anufacturers who make toys 'make gender.'”⁵

The same thought could be applied to race in dolls, which makes the Bratz a truly troubling case. With feminine attributes that come on too strong and races that exist in a color-blind facade, they are without any actual redeeming qualities. Ann duCille, author of Skin Trade, addresses gender and race in a direct fashion,

Barbie dolls represent a potent example of gender as commodity and femininity as something fixed and frozen in plastic. But race is also a hot commodity in late capitalism. What happens when gender as a commodity is fixed and frozen in plastic together with race as a commodity?⁶

In the case of the Bratz, whose initial appearance was made as a group of four multiracial entities, rather than as one white doll as was the case with Barbie, their racial identities gave them access to wider demographics, while engaging consumers in the naughty by nature trope of femininity.

In theory alone, the Bratz are just clique of teenage girls who have one real common bond; their love for clothing, shopping, make up, and hairdos, ie.- consumption. With a friendship based primarily on superficiality, Jade, Yasmin, Sasha and Cloe are presented as the perfect multi-ethnic teen foursome. When beginning research on the dolls, I started by looking at the sources that might be most popular with the children who purchase them. There are many Bratz themed forum websites, but www.bratz-girls.net, while not very active, includes bios of every doll in the Bratz girls toy line, as well as many fan art pieces and games. The biographic information on the original four is detailed and highly specific. Are they racially identified? Of course not. But there are certain traits attributed to each girl that are meant to highlight their ethnicities. Jade, the Asian Bratz doll, has sushi listed as her favorite food. Sasha, the black Bratz doll, likes to listen to hip-hop, Beyonce, and J-lo. Her profile also says that her style comes from the street, old school, and new funk. Cloe, the white Bratz doll, is nicknamed Angel, because of her innocence, and her blue eyes paired with long blonde hair. Yasmin⁷, the most racially ambiguous Bratz doll, says that her favorite foods are Thai, Mediterranean, or anything ethnic.⁸ These tokenizing characteristics are based on stereotypes, and are vague enough to maintain a neutral, color-blind agenda when it comes to the dolls and their identities.

Other Bratz forums, such as priscila1's blogspot blog titled bratz blog!, feature fan interviews and personal reflections on Bratz dolls. The posts on this particular blog are full of atrocious grammar errors and inane non sequiturs⁹, and one can only guess that the author, priscila1, is between the ages of 9 and 13. In a post from May, 2007 priscila1 shares an interview with Blonddiva, a Cloe doll fan. Priscila1 asks, “Why is Cloe your fave bratz? Why does Cloe not have brown hair?” What priscila1 seems to be getting at is the question, “Why like the blond haired white Bratz doll when there are so many more to choose from?”

Blonddiva gives a long answer, and in it, broaches on diverse Bratz identities, and highlights the confusion in their identities.

A lot of my friend's think in a way MGA sort of "copied" off of Mattel- creating the gorgeous blonde doll that's used in pretty much every collection. I disagree I think my friend's are Cloe haterz LOL. Cloe I guess is the girl you love to hate. Don't get me wrong, I love the other dolls. I love the fact that MGA created multi racial doll's, African American, Asian, Japanese, Hispanic, Arabic, etc. But I'm also glad they made a blonde haired blue eyed doll for us blonde haired blue eyed girls. She's beautiful and I love her a lot. Her personality you can't depict it because everyone has their own perceptions of how the Bratz act like or whatever my thought of Cloe I think she's the blonde girly girl with a rock and roll wild side, but hey that's my opinion and Cloe ROCK'S!

Again, priscila1 asks, “Why is Cloe not a brunette?”, inciting that she just as easily could have deviated from the Barbie doll norm. Blonddiva replies,

I think she's not because MGA when they first created the four original doll's they wanted to go a different length then Mattel. they wanted to show us that there are more races or ethnicities, than the fair skinned, blonde haired blue eyed doll's. They wanted not just to show brunettes, but red haired, Asian, all sort's of culture's and ethnicities, which I love about Bratz because there's a girl of every shade. But I think MGA said hey there may be a lot of brunette's and stuff but there's also a lot of blonde's (even natural.) So they made Cloe the first blonde haired doll to come out.¹⁰

This almost unreadable analysis of the dolls gives a great example of how they are interpreted by the children consuming them. They are loved, clearly, and their backgrounds and personalities are left to the consumer for interpretation. But their races are an aspect of the doll that exists regardless of imaginary back story, and the issue of who they really are is scrutinized by child and adult consumers, alike.

On Socyberty¹¹, a forum site with a wide range of topics, an article titled Bratz Doll Controversy or a Big Misunderstanding? The Bratz dolls have gone Hollywood, Have the star struck dolls gone white too?, gleaned a plethora of comments from users attempting to define and clarify the ethnicities of the dolls. Brian C. McGuire, the author of the original post, believes that the dolls were created as a response to the “conventional, westernized, standard Black dolls with a peculiar Eurocentric look.”¹²McGuire continues to make some reputable statements on the need for young girls to play with dolls that mirror their own identities, and the problem that arises when white dolls are the only attractive toy on the market. He then goes on to say that Bratz have a, “deeply enriched ethnic and Afrocentric look,” and that,

People of the Black community thought they had dolls that most could finally [take] pride in. Now these dolls, while still very pretty, are mainly White: Caucasian. Was this change an attempt to attract the popular consumer to buy what the commercial industry deemed a failed plan to promote Black identity? Perhaps the commercial industry learned that White parents were not allowing their children to play with these dolls.¹³

While the rest of McGuire's rant is peppered with factual inaccuracies and grammar mistakes, his arguments for racially inclusive dolls are fairly solid. Unfortunately, McGuire wrote his article under the assumption that both the Sasha and Yasmin dolls were black. His mistake caused a lot of stir among his readers, and the blog comments are just as heated as his article.

The first response was given by user Seemone Osinnowo, who shared an experience she had with her daughter while watching the Bratz Sleep Over Adventures DVD, which led her to believe that the Bratz promotes racist ideologies. ¹⁴After watching the film, her daughter, who is black, proclaimed that the white girl (Cloe) was her favorite, because she was “nicer” than Sasha, whose character in this Bratz story line was vain and bossy . She also refers to the cover of the DVD in her comment, which depicts the girls sitting together on a bed, Yasmin combing Cloe's hair, and Sasha marveling at Cloe's skin tone.

Her complaints may be valid, but another respondent, named only, “...”, believes that the dolls cannot be racist because of the abundance of diversity in their group, and targets Seemone Osinnowo for her opinions on the dolls.

Just because the African American girl had a attitude or seemed rude does not mean every little black girl is that way, therefore your daughter should not believe she is equivalent to that. Do you consider all African American people in the media to be an example of who you are or how your children are?¹⁵

This response hits directly on the core issue. Sure, the little girl that Seemone Osinnowo is referring to should be able to disconnect herself from Sasha's unpleasant actions, but the media is a source of identity indicators for many children, and with Sasha as an accessible role model, her mother must rely on Bratz to promote constructive messages.

“...” identifies Yasmin as Spanish, not black, and so the Yasmin debate continues with several other posts, one from Layal who says, “Spanish IS white, dumbass. Yasmin is either Mexican or Israeli, which, I guess, is Asian or white.”

Erna then comments, “Ugh, I hate it when people confuse Yasmin as black. she's either Mexican or maybe she used to be white and she just got a tan lol I am white and I have a tan which never came off.”¹⁶

FLKiiTA's comment ends the chain.

Yasmin is HISPANIC:) Which means she can be Mexican, Puerto Rican, Boricua, or any of those gewd things:D And they're not racist at all. I like their urban wear, it makes them modern. I'll admit, some of they're skirts are too short and some shirts too revealing, but they overall idea was to create dolls for what is now the 21^st century.¹⁷

These posts are indicative of the widespread dubiety of Yasmin's identity, but also certainty that most people exude when stating their opinion. You would only know that the Yasmin doll was modeled after an Iranian girl if you did a hearty search on the internet. Yasmin's character in Bratz: The Movie is portrayed as having Latina and Jewish mixed heritage, so that many of these posts hold some rationale behind their insinuations. MGA seems not to have any problem with the resulting confusion regarding Yasmin, despite her personal ties to the CEO.

Within this comment thread, user Amanat makes a statement on race in doll play that must be confronted, though it goes beyond the scope of this paper and into a more general discussion on racism. Amanat writes,

I am so tired of the color issues this society has succumb to. If you look hard enough, you will find some degree of racism in everything. I am of mixed descent (tan not light nor with Mariah’s hair)and my sister and I are both normal women who do not have inferiority complexes, and have never been confused about who or what we are. Maybe if people of all races would just talk to their children more about their ethnicity instead of trying to blame television and society about racism, we would overcome some of these ludicrous viewpoints about silly things. Doll??? Are you serious? If you want to have better looking ethnic dolls, then stop commenting on the ideas of others and develop your own!¹⁸

Though her anger may be misplaced and unwarranted, Amanat's ideas should be teased out. Society and media certainly plays a role in perception of self, there is little that can be done to stop it from happening. Amanat has found the logic employed by toy companies world wide; by creating toys that represent racial diversity, children will be empowered as racial beings. Society is, in effect, bypassed by multicultural toys, which will undo the messages sent by the media.¹⁹ Amanat's thought on blaming toys for children's debased notions of identity may be partially on point, but society is omnipresent within the creation of toys. The Bratz dolls were not invented in a vacuum, they reflect the temperament of the consumer market. Amanat's final suggestion brings us to a crucial aspect of multi-ethnic dolls. She suggests that the respondents stop complaining about the ethnic dolls and go make some of their own. The problem is, making a positive role model that is also a fashion doll has proven difficult. Neither Bratz nor Barbie creators are capable of making a form that accurately represents a “real” woman. DuCille writes,

Just what are we saying when we claim that a doll does or does not look like me, does or does not look black? How does black look? How does woman look? What would make a doll look like a 'natural woman'? What would make a doll look authentically African American or realistically Nigerian or genuinely Jamaican? What perspective ideals of blackness are inscribed in such claims of authenticity? What cultural stereotypes of womanhood are embedded in the production of Mattel's 'real dolls'?²⁰

The problem with Bratz, Barbies, and any other doll or action figure form, for that matter, is simply the qualifying term real. How can human form manifest itself in a plastic fashion doll in a way that is at all authentic or truly accurate? The mass production of race and gender in three dimensional objects meant for interaction with children cannot be done without reevaluation of the standard doll form itself. That being said, what happens when dolls are taken out of the box and given actual human bodies?

Bratz: The Movie²¹ gave life to the plastic personalities, and while one might think that putting real faces to the dolls would clear up some of their problematic issues, it only intensifies them. The plot breaks down easily enough: four best friends begin high school, only to be separated by the power of cliques and clubs. After loosing touch and drifting apart, they are brought back together to prove that friendship can overcome all odds. Within this uncomplicated plot line lays a slew of ethnic bashing and cultural ignorance.

In the opening scene, Yasmin runs downstairs from her bedroom and enters her kitchen, which is full of relatives. A baby cries, and in the midst of the mayhem a Mariachi band is spotted noshing on bagels at the breakfast table. If that wasn't confusing enough, we soon meet her Bubbie, who, thanks only to the DVD special features, we learn is her aunt. Bubbie speaks in broken Spanish with bits of Yiddish euphemism thrown in willy nilly. During the course of the film, Yasmin invites her friends over for matzoh and albondigas, one a stereotypic piece of Jewish cuisine, the other Mexican. Despite the non-mention her racial identity, Yasmin world is flooded with cultural imagery. At a point of celebration in the film, Yasmin and Bubbie dance around her room singing La Cucaracha. The overt evidence of her identity is surprising, as it is left out of all other arenas of Yasmin's character. The Bratz chapter books pay little attention to her cultural identity, let alone her racial identity, and one must wonder- how can the only character who is based off of a real person be skewed in such drastic measures by a film created by MGA? The answer is not clear, but, curiously enough, the actress who was cast as Yasmin, Nathalia Ramos, identifies as Latina and Jewish herself.

Jade, who is only described as “exotic,” in the novels, has a very vivid identity image painted in Bratz: The Movie. She is portrayed as the ultimate science and math geek, as well as a home economics wiz. This stereotypical trope of “the smart Asian” is all too familiar, as is the character of her mother; a small, hysterical Asian woman who forces her daughter to be conservative with her fashion choices and to maintain a stellar academic standing in school. Her father, who is white, is subordinate to Jade's mother, and does not speak a word during the entire film. Jade must hide her fashion passion from her parents, and is constantly changing from a safe school girl skirt into outfits with much more “flavor.” Her fashion choices are often tinged with a pseudo East Asian vibe; from chopsticks in her hair to dragons embroidered onto her sweatshirt. Though her racial identity is never explicitly addressed, the undercurrents of Asian background are very prevalent. She is the only character who actively talks about how much she loves school, and actually seems to care about her grades. The other girls, whose hobbies are extracurricular, chide her for her brains and her achievements.

Though in the movie Sasha’s behind the scenes favorite fashion style is said to be animal prints (especially cheetah), the books designate Cloe as the animal print specialist. The association with Sasha and animal print reads as a marker of her “wild animality”, which is a common trope in marketing. As the black character, Sasha is sassier and more outspoken than the other girls. She is ultra privileged and completely focused around her position on the cheerleading squad. When Sasha tries out for the squad, the captain asks her if she thinks she can do better than the squads current routine, and Sasha replies, “Please, you know I do.” The captain tells her to “bring it,” and to that Sasha quips, “Girl, I brought it, nailed it, lent it to my friend's kid sister, and I brought it back, while you were still figuring out the beat.” The film, which was produced in part by MGA, used a white stunt double to film part of Sasha's cheerleading tryouts. The other part, in which the actress Logan Browning who plays Sasha is actually featured, is full of booty shaking and chest shimmying.

Cloe's character is very tricky when it comes to her own racial identity. As the most traditionally Barbie like of all the Bratz, her white, blonde haired, blue eyed persona has been dubbed “angelic.” Her nickname is literally Angel, and she is constantly complimented for her soft, sweet features. In the movie, she is brown eyed and awkward. Her character is underdeveloped, and her major character details include her clumsiness, her love for soccer, and the fact that she does not have as much money as the rest of her friends because she lives in a single parent home. Tension comes to a head when the girls get into a fight, and after Cloe calls Sasha out for buying her friends with her daddy's bank account, Sasha replies, “At least I have a dad with a bank account!” The audience is made to pity Cloe, and for some reason, find her endearing. In the make up and styling DVD special feature, the make up artist says that Cloe doesn't need make up, because she is really a natural beauty. The other girls wear heavy eye shadow and lip gloss to evoke the Bratz image, and though Cloe is made up, her wholesomeness further reinforces the presence of the white beauty myth. Even under the false pretense of multicultural inclusion, she still manages to hold a coveted spot slightly above the other girls in terms of normality and distinction.

Bratz dolls are now an archetypal image of girlhood from the 21^st century. As the face of the toy industry, they are a sign that the marketing industry is unable to censor or monitor itself. The dolls are left to be raced ambiguously because people are not paying for inclusivity and diverse personas. The people who are buying the dolls, as the blog exemplified, are content with creating their own narratives, however problematic they may be. They are paying for the thrill of owning a doll that has kicked the old Barbie model to the curb with the heal of a leopard print stiletto. The Bratz doll's sexiness is not enough of a deterrent, as sex has become desensitized in its hyper-prevalence in our society. Because the Bratz love to shop and spend money on themselves as part of their credo, by buying them, you are able to share in their mystique and friendship.

(links to a few videos, worth watching)

Telephone- (Bratz)Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqr2aY_IZpI&feature=related

TikTok-(Bratz) Ke$ha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGF1bu24Fx8&feature=related

Bratz Video Log:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pstKFxlDrYo&feature=related

1During the course of this study, it came to my attention that the standard Bratz doll has been removed from the shelves of many toy aisles due to a copyright infringement suit by Mattel Inc. However, Bratz products are still available at most stores. The already purchased products still exist in droves. Bratz are not through with us, yet.

2Facts from Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratz

3Durham, M. Gigi. The Lolita Effect. The Overlook Press, New York. 2008.

4Linn, Susan. Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood. Anchor Press, New York. 2004.

5Wagner-Ott, Anna. Analysis of Gender Identity Through Doll and Action Figure Politics in Art Education.Studies in Art Education. Vol 43, No 3. 2002. p 246-263.

6DuCille, Ann. Skin Trade. Harvard University, Cambridge. 1996.

7Yasmin is modeled after a real person, Isaac Larian's daughter, Jasmine. Larian is Iranian, and bestowed the Persian spelling of his daughter's name for her doll likeness. Yasmin is by far the most racially ambiguous of all the Bratz. Her identity is often mistaken for Hispanic or Latina. The official site does nothing to clarify these assumptions, and the books and movies only conflate the confusion.

8Bratz Games and Bratz Girls.

9Some grammar and spelling changes were made to bratz blog! postings for clarity.

10Cloe fan interview! Bratz Blog! Blogspot. 17 May, 2007.

11Some grammar and spelling changes were made to Socyberty postings for clarity.

12McGuire, Brian C. Bratz Doll Controversy or a Big Misunderstanding? Socyberty. Triond. 13 Jan, 2008.

13Ibid McGuire

14 In her retelling, she refers to Yasmin as “the little south american girl.”

15Ibid McGuire

16Ibid McGuire

17Ibid McGuire

18Ibid McGuire

19Chin, Elizabeth. Ethnically Correct Dolls: Toying with the Race Industry. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol 101, No 2. Jun 1999. pp 311.

20DuCille 17.

21Bratz: The Movie. Dir. Sean McNamara. MGA Entertainment, Los Angeles. 2007.