Doll:Our Generation | Abrianna

Meet Abrianna, the 18-inch play doll introduced pointedly as an "Our Generation" doll. Battat, Inc., Abrianna's manufacturer, clearly hope the doll-buying public will prefer its doll over the American Girl line of dolls most noted for their attachments to historical time periods. Battat has made its dolls very similar to American Girl's Felicity, Addie, Samantha, Kit, and Molly. Our Generation dolls are 18 inches tall and can wear the clothes of and use the accessories of Pleasant Company's American Girl dolls. Battat dolls each come with a story book, like American Girl dolls, and each book proclaims messages of self-esteem, self-expression, and accomplishment for little girls to live by: "I'm proud of who I am!" and "You can do more than you think!" Battat dolls announce to anyone who does not find them more desirable than American Girl dolls: "I'm a lot like you." Abrianna is one of six in the Our Generation line, each of which represents a different familiar childhood activity like horseback riding, going back to school, solving a mystery, figure skating, and a muscial recital. Manufacturing dolls with a message for sure, Battat heads its promotional copy with "Our Generation . . . Celebrate Today's Girls and Tomorrow's Leaders." A suggested retail price of $32.99 (one third the cost of an American Girls doll) and distribution through Target stores nationwide (American Girl dolls are sold exclusively from catalogs or from one of six American Girl stores in the country) made Our Generation dolls competitive with the higher-priced, established brand. You might not expect it from one with the grace and poise of a of a figure skater or ballet dancer, but Our Generation dolls hope to knock American Girl dolls off their pedestals. Take that, Molly!!