Image shows a tarnished Baby Annabel doll lying in the dirst.

Seven Standen

In October, American Girl released their latest Girl of the Year. Gymnast and horseback rider Lila Monetti. Marketed ahead of the festive season, this doll captures the essence of what it means to be a young girl in 2024. But is the new Girl of the Year enough to revive the iconic American Girl brand?

Since the line was first launched in 2001, The Girl of the Year has been greatly anticipated by fans of American Girl. While some dolls were welcomed enthusiastically, others have faced outrage or, worse, a lukewarm reception. Today, the toy market is more competitive than ever. The products marketed to young girls are analysed in greater depth, from social and political perspectives. As a result, The Girl of the Year often falls short of consumer’s expectations.

Over the last decade, American Girl has faced frequent criticism for their lack of diversity, decline in overall quality, and failing business model. Unsurprisingly, sales of the brand, owned by Mattel, have also been falling rapidly. With that in mind, could Lila Monetti be the Christmas miracle American Girl desperately needs?

The Girl Of The Year: A Brief History

When American Girl dolls were first manufactured, in 1986, creator Pleasant Rowland had two goals in mind. Firstly, she wanted to provide an alternative to baby (Cabbage Patch Kids) and adult (Barbie) dolls. Rowland conceptualised a line of dolls which were the same age as the girls playing with them.

Secondly, she wanted to encourage young girls to engage with American history through play. The Historical Dolls represented both of these ideals, teaching children about history from a point of view they could understand: a ten-year-old girl, just like them.

Although these Historical Dolls were the main focus of the company, American Girl added contemporary dolls to their line-up in 1994. First called American Girl Of Today Dolls — known as Truly Me Dolls today — these dolls were marketed as symbolising “modern history”.

Girls were encouraged to buy dolls just like them. Not only did this line introduce a more diverse range of dolls, but their commercial success resulted in American Girl creating more modern dolls. Historical dolls were sidelined.

“As far as American Girl dolls go, Lila is inoffensive but boring”

The emphasis on both representing and empowering young girls resulted in the Girl Of The Year dolls being introduced. These limited-edition dolls are designed to reflect real American girls, including their families, hobbies, and lifestyles. A total of 22 Girls Of The Year have been released so far, with the characters varying from highly unique to extremely generic.

Who is Lila Monetti?

Representing 2024, the latest Girl Of The Year is ten-year-old Lila Monetti from St Paul, Minnesota. She lives with her parents, younger brother, and corgi dog called Mighty Mae. Her story focuses primarily on her hobbies, gymnastics and horse riding. As far as American Girl dolls go, Lila is inoffensive but boring.

While her hobbies could be seen as stereotypical, they reflect the interests of many young girls. Today, 3 per cent of children in the US participate in gymnastics. It’s less popular than soccer and cycling, but still among the most popular sports. Horse riding is more difficult to participate in, due to associated expenses, but might be aspirational to girls.

Lila’s family structure reflects the traditional nuclear family: two married parents, a son, and a daughter. As Lila lives in an urban area, she’s one of the 66 per cent of children who live with two married parents. Her family is bigger than average, as only 14 per cent of American families have two children. Debatably, this depiction of an “average” family is a little outdated.

According to the American Girl website, Lila teaches girls: “Goals don’t always have to be about sports, medals, and trophies“.

Ethnic groups in the US, according to the United States Census Bureau compared to ethnic groups in the main American Girl's Girl of the Year line. Image by Empoword.
Ethnic groups in the US, according to the United States Census Bureau, compared to ethnic groups in the main American Girl’s Girl of the Year line. Image curtesy of Empoword.

American Girl’s Diversity Problem

Throughout the years, American Girl has been criticised for showing a lack of diversity. Of the 22 Girls of the Year released, seven were non-white and only five of those don’t have any white heritage. There have been accusations of tokenisation and putting less effort into collections for non-white dolls. Their books are also littered with microaggressions, calling a Latino neighbourhood “dangerous” and claiming Chile has “poor healthcare”.

“It is difficult to create a doll that appeals to their entire customer base”

The Girls Of The Year also participate in expensive hobbies: surfing, horse riding, and skiing. Although these could be seen as aspirational, children whose parents can’t afford these hobbies might feel excluded. Since American Girls retail at over 100 dollars, these hobbies reflect those of the children most likely to receive them.

In recent years, American Girl have made efforts to improve their dolls. Corinne Tan is a Chinese-American who deals with anti-Asian hate in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, while Luciana Vega is an immigrant from Chile who aspires to be an astronomer. Joss Kendrick is Deaf, wears a hearing aid, and uses ASL. Despite alienating customers in the past, these dolls were seen as a step in the right direction for the brand.

With The Girl of the Year dolls only being released once a year, the opportunity to create a wide range of characters is limited. It is difficult to create a doll that appeals to their entire customer base. However, American Girl exacerbate these problems through poor branding and can still do more to appear inclusive.

What’s Next For American Girl?

In 2022, sales were down by 16 per cent overall for American Girl. Fans of the brand attribute the decline to poor business decisions, a focus on quantity over quality, and losing sight of the company’s identity.

“If they try to compete with modern fashion dolls, they will always lose.”

American Girl has been steadily moving away from the Historical Characters. With other fashion dolls on the market at lower prices, there’s no reason for parents to buy American Girls for their children. What makes the American Girl brand unique is the characters, their stories, and the emphasis on historical narratives.

American Girl repeatedly misses the mark when trying to market their dolls. Lila Monetti is simply too generic to appeal to young girls. There are plenty of dolls which centre around horses and gymnastics. Luciana’s passion for outer space and Corinne’s story of dealing with racism are far more unique. These individualities set them apart from the likes of Barbie.

The appeal of American Girl is in their characters and stories. If they try to compete with modern fashion dolls, they will always lose.

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Featured image courtesy of Artem Maltsev on Unsplash. No changes made to this image. Image license is here.

Seven (they/them) is a BA History and Sociology student at the University of Warwick. They are a freelance journalist, disability advocate, and lover of cats.

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