The global downturn has sparked some surprising consumer trends, from recessionista chic to discounts at brothels. But a new doll on the market must take the award for most counter-intuitive marketing: she is homeless, and costs $95.
In a tale that may ring true for some victims of the recession but which has caused controversy in the US, the book that accompanies Mattel's "Gwen Thompson" doll describes how her father lost his job and left the family, forcing Gwen and her mother to sleep in their car after they were evicted. "I always thought homelessness happened to other people. Never to me," Gwen's mother says in the storybook.
