American Girl, which pulled its only Asian American character doll, Ivy Ling, from shelves in 2014, has finally brought back an Asian face to its lineup with Z Yang.
Z Yang, who was initially seen on American Girl’s web series two years ago, is a part of the iconic company’s visible effort to diversify. Among this year’s new faces are Hawaiian American Nanea Mitchell, African American Gabriela McBride and, for the first time in American Girl’s history, boy doll Logan Everett.
Z is a Korean American and an “imaginative filmmaker who develops her own take on the world around her,” according to the company’s description. “Z is focused on using her creativity to connect with others, and her stories remind girls that everyone has a unique perspective to share — even if it’s not perfect.”
The discontinued Ivy, who was a companion doll, was a San Francisco Chinese American in the 1970s. Following her exit, two Asian American sisters began a petition via 18 Million Rising, calling for the company to make Asian dolls.
“Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of choices for toys that looked like us,” the sisters wrote in their petition, which collected more than 3,000 signatures.
According to a Nielsen consumer report last year, Asian Americans, as a group, have the third-largest purchasing power of all multicultural groups. With $815 billion, they would rank No. 18 as a country on purely economic terms, and are expected to increase their buying power to $1.1 trillion by 2020.
