Toy industry banking on new everyday heroes
Will Billy Blazes be a hot item?
Since Sept. 11, the heroics of firefighters, police officers and rescue workers have inspired Americans.
Nowhere is the popularity of the men and women on the front lines of public safety more evident than at the toy store, where shelves are overflowing with hero dolls and their rescue gear. Several toymakers are poised to introduce play sets and action figures this holiday season that celebrate rescue missions and New York City firefighters -- ideas conceived months and even years before the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
One of those is Fisher-Price’s mustachioed, 6-inch, water cannon-wielding action figure, Billy Blazes, based on a New York firefighter. The company, which had been talking with the New York Fire Department as early as last December, is increasing production from 20,000 to 100,000.
“This is an example of a product that people can feel good about,” said Laurie Oravec, a spokeswoman for Fisher-Price, which will include a letter from the New York City fire commissioner, and will donate proceeds from sales of the dolls to the city’s fire safety program.
Military action figures such as Hasbro’s G.I. Joe also are expected to sell well as the country displays its patriotism -- and real soldiers head for real battles.
“Play and toys always reflect our culture,” said Chris Byrne, an industry analyst and contributing editor to Toy Wishes, a consumer magazine. “I think you’ll see a lot of hero play and a lot of kids working out anxiety over (Sept. 11) through play.”
“Toys often reflect what’s going on in society, and if we go into any kind of war mode that’s more overt, I think toys and children will reflect that,” said Terri Bartlett, a spokeswoman for the New York-based Toy Industry Association.
Meanwhile, toy manufacturers have been rethinking some of their other products, potentially offensive in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
Max Steel, a bionic teen superhero with a penchant for extreme sports, had his MX99 Heli-Jet Vehicle grounded by maker Mattel Inc. Accompanying the vehicle was a card describing a scenario in which one of his villains was atop the World Trade Center threatening to spread destruction. “What was once purely fictional is too close to reality,” said Sara Rosales, a Mattel spokeswoman.
Microsoft is removing the World Trade Center from its upcoming version of Flight Simulator, a game in which players pretend to be pilots. It also is planning to make available a software patch to remove the buildings from the current incarnation. Similarly, it has erased the towers from Project Gotham Racing, a title for its upcoming X-Box videogame system. Activision had set the climactic battle in its Spiderman 2: Enter Electro atop a skyscraper, but is now tweaking the game.
And Lego pulled back its Alpha Team: Ogel Control Center, a product that came with pictures of an attack on a city. “In light of the tragic events in the United States, such a theme becomes even more inappropriate,” the company said on its Web site.
Well before the terrorism of Sept. 11, parents had been clamoring for less-violent action figures, and toymakers had responded with everyday-hero lines.
“This whole rescue theme is so appealing to parents,” said Oravec of Fisher-Price, a unit of Mattel, which saw sales of its Rescue Heroes line for preschoolers jump 70 percent in 2000 over the previous year.
Since the attack, the toys seem even more right.
“Kids are focusing on the rescuing aspect of play rather than the destroying aspect,” Byrne said. “They’re going to want to create happy endings.”
After the attack, Matchbox, a Mattel brand, re-evaluated the appropriateness of its Rescue Net Line toys and commercials.
Identifying with rescuers
Parents in focus groups said their children identified closely with rescue figures.
“Children want to be firemen more than ever,” said Dave Bryla, vice president of marketing for Matchbox in Mt. Laurel, Pa. “These are toys that bring those heroes to life.”
How the toy industry reacts could be an important component of how children recover, experts say, since toys and games allow them to make sense of the attacks, process their emotions, find catharsis.
“It’s a natural process of play,” said Stevanne Auerbach, a child development expert and author of “Dr. Toy’s Smart Play.” “When they [children] see something like this on television, they’re going to act it out.”
Bartlett and other toy industry representatives say it’s too early to foresee what new products they might develop as a result of the attacks.
Other experts are varied in their predictions of the country’s palate for playthings.
Certain segments of the toy market have always reflected the times. During World War II, children dressed up as soldiers and civil defense wardens, as well as played with miniature soldiers. During the height of the Cold War, toys based on spying became cool, said Gary Cross, a history professor at Pennsylvania State University who wrote “Kids’ Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American Childhood.”
Treading line carefully
But he said toy manufacturers would need to be careful, both because product development takes so much time and because emotions are so high.
“This is not a situation that is very easy to positively dramatize because it’s so horrific,” Cross said.
“You’ll see a surge in old-fashioned and plush toys, things that are comforting and soothing,” said Mary Meehan, one of the founders of the Minneapolis market-research firm Iconoculture. “It’s going to be important for kids and parents to have that feeling of security in a time that is uncertain.”
Despite the gloom affecting the country and a soft economy, many analysts say they expect Americans to spend about as much on toys as they otherwise would have.
“We know people want children’s lives to be affected as little as possible by these horrific events,” said Mary DeSilva, president of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association.
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