American Girl – Magnanimous Victors

A month or so ago, I posted my official letter of surrender to American Girl. It outlined the futility of several year struggle against the juggernaut when they named their Girl of the Year, “Lanie”. Having a daughter named Lane, who we call Laney, meant that all further resistance was utterly pointless.

A few days later, I was contacted by the head of American Girl PR. Uh-oh, I thought.  Maybe they want me to remove the copyrighted picture I snagged of the Lanie doll. When I opened it, I learned that they were all so amused with my mock letter of surrender (including the AG President Ellen Brothers) that they wanted me to do a short video of myself reading it aloud with my daughter to play at their annual company meeting.

In the true spirit of surrender, I fully complied with their request. Apparently, it went over a hoot and I got a nice thank you letter from Ellen Brothers and some Lanie loot for Laney as a thank you for doing the video.

One of the highlights of this whole American Girl adventure was being contacted by Jane Kurtz, the author of the Lanie books. They books were not at all what I expected. Totally enjoyable storytelling – not just an excuse for product placement.  We’re making our way through the second one and I expect they’ll both get a re-read.

To my fellow members of the AG resistance (Will, Jen, Markus, and Lee), I will miss our many misadventures together in the anti-AG frontlines. I bid you adieu and wish you luck on your ongoing struggles. You’re gonna need it.