"Purchased for self"

Of all the kinds of content that the Internet has helped to generate, product reviews may be the most fascinating. I long ago ditched my Consumer Reports subscription in favor of reading reviews on Amazon.com, and I carefully consider what I see there before making a major purchase (the one caveat being that sometimes people give a product a negative review when they're really dissatisfied with the shipping speed or what they had for breakfast that day).

I've watched with interest as other sites have adopted the Amazon model. Sometimes they paint a sad picture; while shopping for a grill recently I was struck by the small number of reviews at HomeDepot.com and the lack of enthusiasm in them, indicating that the ultimate bricks-and-mortar retailer has made an underwhelming transition to cyberspace. Most recently I spent some time with the reviews at AmericanGirl.com while looking for a birthday present for my daughter, and there discovered evidence of a community that interests the amateur anthropologist in me.

In addition to five-star ratings in five categories (quality, product appearance, age appropriateness, educational value and play value) the American Girl site asks reviewers, "What is your relationship to the child that you purchased for?" The seven possible answers are:

• Mother
• Father
• Grandparent
• Aunt
• Uncle
• Friend
• Purchased for self

The surprise for me was how many reviewers who are clearly adults chose "purchased for self,"calling into question what the phrases "age appropriateness" and "the child that you purchased for" really mean. A reviewer nicknamed edina wrote:

American Girl clothes for dolls are very well made, so detailed that they are delightful to adults too. I like the outfits that are more classic and the historical ones from the 20th century. Nice work, designers and seamstresses!

One called LuluT wrote, about Rebecca, the company's new Jewish character:

This is a beautiful doll and I'm glad I've added her to my collection. Her best feature is her hair because it is curly and full. However, her worst feature is also her hair because it is rather "crunchy," difficult to work with, and can easily look unruly. Even with the hair pick, it is still hard to keep her hair looking as nice as it does in the catalog and in online photos. I would highly recommend this doll to a collector who will use it primarily for display but I would not give it to a young girl because of the hair.

Lulu, firstly, that's how Jewish hair can be, so you may simply be suffering from a touch of verisimilitude; and secondly, if your motivation in buying Rebecca was to display her, Toy Story style, why are you actually playing with her? And why keep her away from an actual child?

Perhaps even odder than the large number of "Purchased for self" reviews on AmericanGirl.com is the fact that I could not find a single review from a father. Get ready, American Girl community, because after my daughter unwraps her present, this daddy is crashing your world.