Images: TCFC
Strawberry Shortcake is getting stale - the "it" doll of the 1980s just wasn't connecting with modern girls, so her corporate owner American Greeting Properties, is having pulling an extreme makeover - and they're not alone:
Strawberry Shortcake, part of a line of scented dolls, now prefers fresh fruit to gumdrops, appears to wear just a dab of lipstick (but no rouge), and spends her time chatting on a cellphone instead of brushing her calico cat, Custard. Her new look was unveiled Tuesday, along with plans for a new line of toys from Hasbro.
She is not the only aging fictional star to get a facelift. An unusually large number of classic characters for children are being freshened up and reintroduced — on store shelves, on the Internet and on television screens — as their corporate owners try to cater to parents’ nostalgia and children’s YouTube-era sensibilities. Adding momentum is a retail sector hoping to find refuge from a rough economy in the tried and true.
Brooks Barnes of the New York Times has the story: Link
(Alert: Disney is thinking of "updating" Mickey Mouse! The travesty!)
I think "chic" is the word some of you are looking for.
Carter
Minneapolis, MN