Notes From All Over -- The Toy Edition -- Part 2 -- October 26, 2020

Barbie: from The Wall Street Journal last week --

Barbie sales take off as parents try to cut down on screen time. Mattel reports largest increase in demand for flagship doll in at least two decades; Hot Wheels, Baby Yoda, also fuel growth.

Our six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spends  lot of time on the iPad. In addition to remote learning on an iPad, she takes piano lessons using an iPad app, as well as Spanish lessons.

But she has a lot of non-screen activities: she loves to paint; she has a huge Barbie doll collection (I find them incredibly affordable compared to so many other things these days); she loves Legos; and, we are building quite a collection of Hot Wheels. 

Prize collection for me, of course, the Beatles Hot Wheel vans. 

From the linked WSJ article:

Add Barbie to the list of the pandemic’s biggest winners. 

Mattel Inc.’s flagship doll posted a 29% sales increase in the third quarter, leading the toy company to 10% revenue growth in the period. 

It was the largest quarterly increase posted by Barbie going back at least two decades. “The brand is more relevant than ever at 62 years old,” Mattel Chief Executive Ynon Kreiz said in an interview Thursday.

After years of struggles and rising competition from other dolls, Mattel sought to reinvigorate the Barbie brand by introducing new body sizes, skin tones, hair colors and career paths. Recently, Barbie has also been boosted by hits like a “Color Reveal” product where you dip a doll into water to disclose what kind it is.

The pandemic has helped, too. Parents say they are looking for ways to entertain their children that don’t involve a screen and many are gravitating to familiar toys.