Wal-Mart No Longer Selling Bratz After July 2009

Wal-Mart Contact Information: http://www.walmartstores.com/7663.aspx

The Bratz products and collections MGA Entertainment has planned for Fall 2009 will be the best products and collections the company has ever manufactured. But, could they be the best Bratz products and collections that you will not see in stock at any retailer anywhere?

2009 has been a real tough year for Bratz and for MGA Entertainment. Ever since Mattel stole won the rights to the Bratz franchise back on July 17, 2008 (and later assured the rights on December 3, 2008, when Judge Stephen Larson granted Mattel the injunction to order MGA Entertainment to cease all manufacturing, production, marketing, and licensing of Bratz), vendors and licensees have severed ties with MGA Entertainment. Mattel has stained MGA Entertainment with the impression that it is a fraudulent company which manufactures illegal products by stealing ideas from other organizations, and these vendors and licensees do not feel that MGA Entertainment is a very trustworthy company to work with.

Among those licensees severing ties with MGA Entertainment is the largest retailer in the United States, Wal-Mart. I recently obtained a document from a Wal-Mart store in Whitehall, Pennsylvania, which states that Wal-Mart will no longer be carrying the Bratz License Modular Merchandise after July 2009:

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http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/photos/WalmartNoBratzAfterJuly2009Large.jpg

The document also states: "WE WANT TO BE COMPLETELY OUT OF BRATZ BRANDED MERCHANDISE BY JULY 2009." Take it for what you will, but unless the document was referring to that specific store in Whitehall, Pennsylvania, those two statements imply that ALL 4,200+ Wal-Mart stores in the United States will be emptying out their Bratz sections by July 2009.

I contacted Wal-Mart's Merchandising Team about this issue. The company did not respond to any questions I had about the reasons why they were no longer selling Bratz after July 2009. In fact, they insisted that the news about Wal-Mart no longer selling Bratz after July 2009 was news to them.

Yet, at the Wal-Mart Stupidcenter in Easton, Pennsylvania, I observed evidence that this news was, in fact, correct, and that the removal of Bratz at Wal-Mart was well underway: The Bratz Cowgirlz dolls were removed from the shelves and would not be restocked. Bratz Wild Life was also gone, including store exclusives (e.g., Bratz 2 ft. tall Wild Life Cloe, Bratz Wild Life Tent). Bratz Magic Hair Cut N' Grow was also gone, including styling heads. At other Wal-Mart stores I visited within my radius, similar Bratz removal activities were taking place; at the same time, stores were emptying out whatever excess Bratz stock they had in their stockrooms, in their attempt to rid themselves of these wonderful dolls. They would no longer be ordering any new and/or further products/collections with the Bratz brand on them.

This news of Wal-Mart no longer carrying the Bratz License Modular Merchandise has to be really devastating for MGA Entertainment, after everything the company and its President and CEO Issac Larian have endured with the litigation against Mattel. Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the United States, and for NONE of the 4,200+ stores in the chain to sell Bratz after July 2009 is the nail in the coffin for any chance of the Bratz' survival at the end of the year, if that nail has not been hammered in already.

At this point, the only question you can now ask yourself is, "....what now?" Even more to the point, "....who's next?" Well, given Target's track record with Bratz in 2009 (and this retailer's abuse toward Bratz is legendary), it won't be long before Target joins Wal-Mart in announcing that it, too, is no longer selling Bratz. It is only a matter of time before the ax falls and Target drops the other shoe.

Of course, July is three months away, and anything can change between now and July. But we already know the bad news about Bratz at Wal-Mart. And you will continue to hear of more bad news such as this in the weeks and months to come.

MGA Entertainment better seriously consider setting up a shop on eBay and selling all the Bratz products and collections for Fall 2009 online. If retailers are not willing to sell Bratz (either because of the ongoing litigation against Mattel, or because sales of Bratz dolls are not doing well, or because they just hate the dolls in general), perhaps MGA Entertainment would be better off selling any new Bratz products and collections to Bratz fans such as myself — even if the company stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars selling Bratz online only. Since MGA Entertainment is a distributor that sells only to retailers, the company should bite the bullet and sell directly to consumers.

Hold up, wait a minute....MGA Entertainment, selling all the Bratz products and collections for Fall 2009 ONLINE ONLY? Directly to consumers? Really? I know, it is a terrible idea, but desperate times call for desperate measures. How else is MGA Entertainment going to generate money from the sales of all those Fall 2009 Bratz products and collections if not a single store in the United States is going to sell them? Should this company attempt such a risky move? Mr. Larian, two words: DO IT.

As for Mattel....I don't know how anyone at Mattel can live with themselves, after what they have accomplished with trying to destroy the Bratz brand. I'm sure they're toasting their champagne glasses, congratulating themselves for a job well done and proclaiming, "Here's to Barbie, for 50 more years of dominance in the industry!"

Mr. Robert Eckert (Chairman/CEO of Mattel, Inc.): No matter how much you and your despicable company tries to force pink down every consumers' throats, no matter how much you wield your powerful influence throughout the foundation in order to restore respectability in the toy industry, you will NEVER convert me into a Barbie fan and you will NEVER use your litigation to take away MY Bratz dolls. Furthermore, Bratz will ALWAYS and FOREVER belong to Mr. Larian and MGA Entertainment. You are worthless scum, Mr. Eckert, and BTW, my pink is far more sweeter and sexier than anything Barbie owns pink — including the pink Ken enjoys sucking on.