I was raised in a pretty strict and conservative Christian church, and let me tell you what, back then we did not have swag. The closest we ever came was this bracelet that you made at Vacation Bible School that had different colored beads on it, and each bead represented a different important thing about Jesus which I can't actually remember except the red bead was for blood, because, duh. The whole What Would Jesus Do? phenomenon didn't hit until I was in high school or so, and by then I was a total existentialist who believed in pretty much nothing but maybe getting a boyfriend some day, and WWJD was not my guiding philosophy toward that end. In any case, there were no Jesus Princesses in my youth. Plenty of bracelets, no princesses.
A decade or so ago when I was deep in the throes of misspent youth, I sometimes babysat for a friend, and her kid watched Veggie Tales. And I remember thinking "Hey, that's smart, a cartoon with a Christian slant. I bet they'll find a nice little niche for themselves". Boy, did I know how to call 'em. Little did I know that Veggie Tales was only an opening salvo in the marketing of Christianity Culture. Make way for Gigi, God's Little Princess. Looking like a cross between Eloise and Fancy Nancy, Gigi is apparently a response to the princess phenomenon that nobody with daughters seems to be escaping (if you can't beat 'em, etc. etc.). You can insert your own snark about Disney Princesses not being subservient enough here; I've shot all the fish in that barrel.
Recently Princess Gigi's had some serious success: the top Christian children's DVD of 2006, and the top selling Christian children's book "The God's Little Princess Devotional Bible", and a whole empire of other crap, with (probably) more to come. And fear not, parents of boys, your sons can bask in the glory that is Will, God's Mighty Warrior. Because girls are princesses, and boys are warriors, get it? Good.
While my churchgoing days are, except for holidays, pretty much behind me, I can't help but feel wistful for the days when I cheerfully went to Sunday School because I took it seriously, not because I had a bunch of paraphrenalia to inspire my devotion. When the prevailing wisdom was that Christianity meant humbleness and charity, not a full-scale marketing attack. When the bracelets were made out of pipe cleaner and plastic beads, not pink marabou. What would Jesus do? I have a guess.
