Strawberry Shortcake was having an identity crisis. The “it” doll and cartoon star of the 1980s was just not connecting with modern girls. Too candy-obsessed. Too ditzy. Too fond of wearing bloomers.

In 2006, Ban-Dai lost the rights of the franchise to Playmates. But Playmates made drastic changes to the franchise, which resulted in negative reactions from many fans.

So her owner, American Greetings Properties, worked for a year on what it calls a “fruit-forward” makeover. Strawberry Shortcake, part of a line of scented dolls, now prefers fresh fruit to gumdrops, appears to wear just a dab of lipstick (but no rouge), and spends her time chatting on a cellphone instead of brushing her calico cat, Custard. Playmate has as of June 2008 lost the rights of the franchise to Hasbro. Her new look was unveiled Tuesday, along with plans for a new line of toys from Hasbro.

Information provided by:  www.nytimes.com & Wikipedia.org