Mar 27 2009
A Makeover for DORA the Explorer?
Traditional Dora -VS- Grown up Dora 
Okay, you know her, you love her; she is the cute innocent little girl whom our children love to go exploring with everyday, the one the only Dora the Explorer. What you may not know though is that Mattel and Nickelodeon (in an attempt to earn some more of the old mighty green) is planning to give our cute, somewhat, tom-boyish (some have even called her androgynous) little girl a glammed up makeover. Gone will be her short bob-cut hair and shorts in exchange for longer hair, jewelry, and more stylish outfits. The new Dora is in the developmental stages, but has already raised many eye-brows and many complaints have been voiced against her creation. They plan to have both the younger version and the “grown up” version but we all know which version our little girls (and little boys) will prefer. When the companies released the new look last week parents began a petition to pressure Mattel and Nickelodeon to reconsider the newer version. Apparently Mattel plans to release a doll with the new, more grown-up look and a plug into your computer option which will somehow enable your “tween” to change Dora’s hair length, jewelry, and eye color. What ever happened to the old saying: Be happy with what God gave you? Change her eye color? Come on. Last year I did a short stint working in a mall to earn extra money for Christmas and I can’t tell you how many little girls passed by my store with their fake Hannah Montana wigs on. It just made me ill—it was like that time when M&M performed on the MTV Music awards and had a ton of blonde wigged look alikes take the stage with him. These little girls looked like a bunch of drones walking by. Its hard for mom and dad’s to say no to these trends–I know, but maybe we should begin to put our two cents in by not buying these toys from the companies. Granted we all like to dye our hair and change things about ourselves as we get older, but seriously, what message are we sending to our daughters when we make them think they should have blonder hair and blue eyes and tattoos to be attractive. All that can come later. Let a kid be a kid! What happened to: “It’s what is on the inside that counts”? There is already way too much pressure on our little girls to “fit in” and look the part. I think its a bad idea to take such an innocent role model and make her a superficial girl who is all about the shopping and her appearance. Come on Nick and Mattel, don’t take away one of the few wholesome role models we have left for our little girls.
I think what Mattel is trying to do is prolong Dora’s life span. The old Dora may be too babyish for an 8 or 9 year old so they would move onto the new Dora. The old Dora should be in the kiddie section 3 -7 year olds and the new Dora should be in the “tween” section 8 - 12 year olds. This way our girls won’t be “too cool” for Dora when they get a bit older. It’s either this or no Dora at age 8 at all. Yes, it’s about making money and Mattel could care less about our little girls, but I don’t have a problem with this at all.
Good point Anthony, however, I think that women (moms especially) are having a problem with it because they don’t want their little girls thinking that you have to be glammed up and wear trendy/sophisticated clothing to be considered cool. As a mom, if I had a daughter I would want her to know that its what is inside that counts. Mom’s are feeling like the new Dora will be superficial as Mattel plans to have her activities revolve around shopping and other non-adventurous types of activities. I don’t know any 8 year old girls who would want a Dora toy. They are all very much into Hannah Montana and HS Musical by that age anyway. Not sure how the new Dora is going to do in the market. Guess we will have to see. Thanks for your comments. =)