Many people believe toys are just for kids. But for the biggest manufacturers of the the things we play with, extending the market often means designing seemingly preschool-targeted children in a way that attracts adults and non-traditional toy buyers.
Mattel is an international toy manufacturing giant with brands meant to appeal to any demographic they market to. The toy giant has hundreds of product lines from Barbie to Hot Wheels, Fisher Price to Power Wheels, and they continue to innovate to try to find new ways to move product. But can they expand into newly growing sections of the population?
Other titans in the space, such as Hasbro and Lego, have made large strides in marketing beyond children. Grown-up Lego enthusiasts used to be known as “AFOLs” or Adult Fans of Lego, but adult ownership of Lego kits is so common today that the phrase is becoming a footnote. Hasbro has a crowd-funding site with toys and collectibles geared specifically at grown-ups. It appears to be a resounding success. Even pets are becoming a target audience!
https://twitter.com/doggirlsister/status/1610016645862379523
Mattel’s most successful attempts in this area of branching out have turned to be a bit more controversial material. The Little People Collector line has featured iconic cultural properties in the form of Fisher Price’s Little People. Some notable sets include Little People recreations of the characters of NBC sitcom The Office, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, or bands like The Beatles, KISS, and Run DMC.
More recently, however, the content is swaying towards less innocuous material. The National Lampoon brand got their first Little People set in the form of the Griswold Family as they appeared in Christmas Vacation (arguably the tamest film in the National Lampoon franchise from a content standpoint). Eyebrows might raise even more that the lovable Ted Lasso got a Little People collection. The character of Ted Lasso is about as wholesome as it gets, but in the series of the same name… let’s just say that the Ted Lasso very much earns it TV-MA for severe language rating.
Last, but not least, long-running drag performer RuPaul got a Little People collection. The set features three incarnations of RuPaul, one in a suit and two in dresses that are “styled in a different fabulous look from the iconic drag performer’s career” according to the Mattel website.
You can get an idea of how this is being received from proponents of such a move in the video below:
Mattel clearly lists Fisher Price Little People as a brand aimed at “Infant, Toddler & Preschool” on their website, with the age ranges on the Mattel online Fisher Price store maxing out at 6 years old. After you click on the RuPaul Little People Special Edition, you are treated to a text description that says that the toys are “for fans ages 1-101 years”
When I browsed the Mattel website, the RuPaul Little People collection was listed right between the poetically named “Barbie You Can Be Anything Figure Pack” and a Little People Dia de Muertos collection, commemorating the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration of traditional values like family and multi-generational heritage.
According to major retailers, the Fisher Price Little People Collector line is sold right alongside the standard Little People line on store shelves.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of Mattel’s push into non-traditional values. We have several articles coming up that you will be sure to want to read. While we take no position on sociocultural issues, and we’re definitely not a political website, we also must report the news on all things that should be fun — including toys — even when the topic takes us into divisive territory. For more, follow That Park Place.
