Pro-Life Group: New American Girl Ad Campaign Proves Boycott Works 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 14, 2005
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) — A pro-life group that has led a boycott and protests against the American Girl doll company over its partnership with a pro-abortion girls group says a new ad campaign proves its boycott has been effective in applying pressure.
American Girl has launched the "Save Girlhood" ad campaign, the first ad campaign in the company’s history, which seeks to preserve girls’ innocence and suggests wholesome, fun activities for girls and their parents.
"The way we see it, girls are growing up too fast," the campaign says on its new web site.
"From every angle, today’s girls are bombarded by influences pushing them toward womanhood at too early an age," American Girl says. "We’d like to change that. We’d like to save girlhood."
Ann Scheidler, executive director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League, says the ad campaign is in direct conflict with the pro-abortion views of Girls Inc., and proves her group’s boycott has been successful.
"American Girl is trying to restore its wholesome image with pro-life families," Schiedler said. "Their efforts at damage control show how effective our protest and boycott have been."
"In contrast to American Girl’s affiliation with pro-abortion Girls Inc., they have just launched a major ad campaign, designed to protect girls from growing up too fast," said Scheidler. "The sudden about-face is clearly a response to our boycott of American Girl during the Christmas shopping season."
Schidler said the new ad campaign comes just weeks before American Girl’s partnership with Girl’s Inc. to sell bracelets with the message "I Can" comes to its scheduled end.
The bracelet campaign had the doll maker giving 70 cents from every $1 brought in from the sales to support Girls Inc., a group that helps girls with self-esteem and scholastic issues. American Girl also pledged a $50,000 donation on top of those proceeds.
"The ‘I Can’ bracelet project which funded Girls Inc. abruptly comes to an end December 26," said Scheidler. "This new ‘Save Girlhood’ project proves that consumers can demand integrity from a company by refusing to buy its products when it betrays its consumers’ trust."
The partnership has been criticized by pro-life groups because Girls’ Inc. supports abortion and says on its web site that it backs the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and supports women having abortions if that’s their decision.
PLAL and the American Family Association has been drawing attention to the partnership and Scheidler’s group announced its boycott on November 1. Since then, it has protested at American Girl stores in Chicago and New York.
American Girl began de-emphasizing the bracelets days after the boycott and Bath and Body Works, the only other outlet for purchasing the "I Can" bracelet, quit the project in late November.
Girls’ Inc. has defended its pro-abortion position and American Girl issued a statement saying the money was only intended for helping girls perform better in science at school.
Related web sites:
Pro-Life Action League – https://www.prolifeaction.org
