In 1997 there was alot of speculation of what the Franklin Mint’s first Diana doll would look like. Here is the first advertisement for the Diana in the Elvis gown she is the doll that started the porcelain series. Notice how they superimposed Diana’s face on the doll. Boy oh boy did that start an uproar.
- Advertisemnet From 1997 From Dani’s collection of clippings
Then they released one of the vinyl Diana
This one had the nicer face sculpt to me and the hair looked almost like a strawberry blond. But it was the face sculpt that really appealed to me.
Diana the People's Princess Prototype ad
This little trick from the Franklin Mint made collectors very skeptical to order the dolls sight unseen because you never knew if your doll would come to you looking like the ad or something else all together. The Franklin Mint was not he only company to have done this Ashton Drake did it as well. But their version of Diana upset collectors so much that they started being called the Chucky DIs.
In recent years the Fm has held off until their actual dolls were completed to take a photo shoot for the the ads. Which made things a lot better for those of us who could not wait to see the next Diana doll. In 2011 they did the same thing with the Kate Middleton doll superimposing her face on the ad. But this time around we all waited to see the real thing.
Early Ad of FM KATE
Another Company that came under fire with their Diana dolls not looking up to the par was Gadco.
Their advertisement showed a beautiful Diana doll. Well the doll was a disgrace when she appeared in person the company’s response was even worst, they claimed that the company who was painting the dolls had a vendetta against them and made sure to do a horrible job on the dolls to bring them down. Well I am not really sure about that but one thing collectors were able to savage was the gown and the jewels and thankfully it fit the Fm Diana doll.
It is tricky business relying on the doll companies to produce what they advertise but sometimes it just pays to wait and see.
We would like to know, Do you order from the Ad alone or wait for “real” photos to be posted of the actual doll before you place your order?