Is nothing sacred?

The New York Times recently ran an article in which it unveiled American Greetings Properties' redesign of Strawberry Shortcake. I, for one, am horrified— the revamped Strawberry Shortcake bears absolutely no resemblance to the 80s character I grew up with. She looks more like a Bratz doll than the lovable version in bloomers I remember from my youth. I understand the need for making the character accessible to children today, but to me this is extreme. In fact, I stumbled across this amusing article in which a plastic surgeon outlines that costs that would have been incurred if the makeover were real, likening it to an episode of The Swan. The hypothetical total? $23,675.19.

Much like a classic logo design revamped for the worse (think Rand's UPS or Bass's AT&T), in American Greetings Properties' haste to modernize the character they have sacrificed the straightforward charm of the original. In my opinion, this trend toward making everything from logos to cartoons sleeker and sexier is yielding increasingly generic results. Below, take a look at what has become of poor Angelina Ballerina. Next on deck? The Care Bears are returning with a "fresh look" this fall, this time with "less belly fat, longer eyelashes." I'm scared. ••••