• New York Post, SFGate, Brandchannel, Detroit Free Press, Tuesday, October 6, 2009 10:43 AM

A couple of weeks ago, New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser wrote about a limited-edition American Girl doll named Gwen, who is homeless. The back-story is that dad walked out, leaving mom and daughter to fend for themselves. Bloggers evidently have been kicking around the irony of a $95 toy representing homelessness for a few months now, as Amy Graff points out in SFGate's "The Mommy Files" blog, but Peyser kicked the controversy up a notch. Whatever the vibe Barbie sent about body image, she didn't "politically indoctrinate" the young Peyser with messages such as "men are bad" and "women are hopeless," she wrote.

In a Brandchannelpost this morning, Jennifer Wright picks up the controversy, writing that "the most disturbing part of all of it is the fact that the doll costs $95, no portion of which goes towards the homeless." She does point out that Mattel is donating proceeds from the sale to an anti-bullying campaign.

Detroit Free Press features editor Kristen Jordan Shamus broke that story yesterday, writing that her own misgivings about purchasing the doll for her daughter were assuaged by a chat with Mattel spokeswoman Julie Parks. Because Gwen was introduced as a figure in a bullying story, the company connected with the Ophelia Project, a nonprofit dedicated to helping young people handle bullying. And over the past 19 years, American Girl also has donated about $9 million worth of clothing and books to Kids in Distressed Situations, which provides help to children who are homeless otherwise in need.

Seems like that's one back-story Mattel needs to do a better job with .

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