What Made Toys Hot in 1985?
Today’s look at a 1985 newspaper focuses on a N.Y. Times article by Lisa Belkin. Taken from the September 6, 1985 of the Lawrence Journal-World we can get a peek at the buildup to Christmas and how toymakers use marketing and psychology to create the “hot” toys of the season.
“Today manufacturers market not only toys but also universes in which those toys can live. Cabbage Patch Kids come with names and identities. Rainbow Brite lives in Rainbow Land with her horse, Starlight, and her friend Twink, the white sprite. Each Transformer, in turn, is given a context with a packaged description of its role and personality.”
I discussed this exact subject in Action Figures Not Included* and still believe that it was the creation of brands and worlds that was most influential on toy sales during my childhood.
These old articles are remarkable and really help give us a background as to how the toy industry transformed into the giant business that it is today.
