If the classic characters look less stodgy, the companies hope, they will appeal not only to parents who remember them fondly, but also to children who might automatically be suspicious of toys their parents played with. Strawberry Shortcake, even in her diminished state, has generated $2.5 billion in revenue since 2003, according to American Greetings. Mickey Mouse produces an estimated $5 billion in merchandise sales every year. Adding momentum is a retail sector hoping to find refuge from a rough economy in the tried and true.ĭone correctly, it can be incredibly lucrative. An unusually large number of classic characters for children are being freshened up and reintroduced on store shelves, on the Internet and on television screens as their corporate owners try to cater to parents’ nostalgia and children’s YouTube-era sensibilities. She is not the only aging fictional star to get a facelift. Her new look was unveiled Tuesday, along with plans for a new line of toys from Hasbro. 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. So her owner, American Greetings Properties, worked for a year on what it calls a “fruit-forward” makeover. The “it” doll and cartoon star of the 1980s was just not connecting with modern girls. LOS ANGELES Strawberry Shortcake was having an identity crisis.
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