Fisher-Price Rainforest Bouncer

The Rainforest Bouncer features a new rainforest themed fashion and toy bar with a see-thru 'waterfall' as the centerpiece created by lights and clear spinning helices that create the effect of a waterfall. 2 colorful character friends up top, a monkey and a toucan, keep baby visually stimulated while 2 hanging toys provide lots of activity with spinners and flutters that have lots of bright colors and textures. The toy bar easily removes for getting baby in & out. Two great modes of play include: 1. mom activated - with 6 longer, continuous playing songs and 2. baby activated - with 6 shorter songs plus 3 sound effects that reward baby for active play with the toys. Also includes mom activated calming vibrations and volume control. 3 point restraint keeps baby safely seated and the pad is sacked out to fully support baby's head, neck and shoulders.

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Fisher-Price T.M.X. Tickle Me Extreme Cookie Monster

Amazon.com Product Description
Tickle your funny bone with this hilarious Cookie Monster toy. Recommended for ages 18 months and older, he falls backwards, then rolls to the right and left while laughing hysterically.

Tickle Cookie Monster's belly and he falls to the floor in laughter. View larger. View side view.

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Full of fun phrases and hilarious actions The Bad: Doesn't work so well on carpet In a Nutshell: Cute, huggable toy, great for young children At a Glance Ages: 1-1/2 years and up Requires: 6 AA batteries (included)

Meet T.M.X. Cookie Monster
Part of the new Tickle Me Extreme friends, Tickle Me Cookie Monster is every bit as charming and fun as his popular friend, T.M.X. Elmo. When you touch his belly, this plush 11-inch doll falls backwards and giggles as he rocks back and forth. He even gets back up on his own! With googly eyes and soft blue fur, this Cookie Monster doll is cute, huggable, and a great toy for young children. He comes packaged in a cardboard carrying case with a handle at the top and a cutout to poke his ticklish tummy. Cookie Monster performs best on a hard, flat surface and requires six AA batteries (included) to bring him to life.

Laughter Is Contagious
Each T.M.X. friend has its own unique actions. The T.M.X. Cookie Monster features silly gyrations followed by humorous phrases. This motorized doll is so soft, kids can pick it up, snuggle with it, then put it down and watch it wiggle. It only takes two tickles to send Cookie Monster into hysterical laughter and kids soon find themselves giggling along. This doll has an incredible likeness to the actual Sesame Street character. Parents can add to the fun with T.M.X. Elmo or T.M.X. Ernie, sold separately.

Tickle Test
During the tickle test, it became easy to see why the T.M.X. friends are in such demand. When you tickle Cookie Monster's belly, he doubles over in hysterics. The second time he is tickled, he falls over backwards, rolls from left to right, then gets back up again, saying, "That was good." The doll moves best on a hard, flat surface and struggles a little when placed on carpet. But that was the only setback discovered during the hands-on testing process. A discreet on-off switch on his foot allows you to turn the doll off, if you're in need of some quiet time. Overall, T.M.X. Cookie Monster makes a great toy for its target age range. Even adults will crack a smile as this jolly character shakes and rolls with laughter.

What's in the Box
Plush Cookie Monster doll, 6 AA batteries

From the Manufacturer
TMX Mini Cookie is an 11'' plush that giggles and laughs as he rolls from one side to the another. Simply press Cookie's belly to see Cokkie begin with laughter and ends by rolling on his side around on the floor hysterical with laughter and humorous phrases.

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Leap Frog History

Company History:

LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. is the fourth largest toy company in the United States, behind Mattel, Hasbro, and Lego. Whereas these three companies are all of long standing, LeapFrog was founded in the mid-1990s and surged to the fore with a line of electronic toys designed to help children learn to read and master other academic skills. LeapFrog products teach children phonics as well as music, math, reading, geography, social studies, and science. Its products include the LeapPad talking books, the LeapStart Learning Table, Turbo Twist, iQuest, and other interactive toys geared for children from preschool age through middle school. Some of its products are sold directly to schools through its SchoolHouse division. LeapFrog sells its products in more than 25 countries worldwide, and its electronic books have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. The publicly traded company is majority owned by Knowledge Universe, Inc., a private company with worldwide interests in education-related businesses. Knowledge Universe was founded by financier Michael Milken, his brother Lowell, and Larry Ellison, founder of the software firm Oracle Corporation.

A Father's Idea in the Late 1980s

LeapFrog Enterprises was founded in 1995 by Michael Wood, a San Francisco lawyer who worked for the law firm Cooley Godward. Cooley Godward specialized in representing growing high-tech firms, and Wood often represented entrepreneurs securing financing for new companies. Wood got the idea for LeapFrog in the late 1980s, but he remained at his job while laying the groundwork for his new corporation. When Wood's son Matthew was three years old, he had already mastered the alphabet. He recognized all the letters, and he seemed on track to becoming an early reader. Yet Wood's son had trouble connecting the name of the letters with the sound the letter made. Wood hoped to find a toy that would help Matthew master phonics. But after scouring area stores, Wood could not find anything suitable. A phonics educational toy did not seem to exist in the toy industry at that time. Wood realized he might be able to make his own phonics toy while looking over the work of one of his Cooley Godward clients. This client was investing in the chip technology developed by Texas Instruments that was used in talking and singing greeting cards. Wood wondered if similar technology could be used to put chips in some kind of manipulable letters. Then when kids squeezed or pressed the letter, the letter could produce the sound associated with it.

This was the basic idea behind LeapFrog, but Wood spent years refining the concept and testing it in various ways. He spent four years doing focus groups on mothers, to see if there was interest and to get their feedback. He had a prototype made, in order to make sure the manufacturing was plausible. He also did studies to work out the cost of manufacturing and a viable retail price. He met with a buyer from Toys 'R' Us to determine interest there. In 1994 Wood took his first prototype phonics toy to Robert Calfee, a professor of education at Stanford. Dr. Calfee had spent 25 years researching how children learn to read, and he took the time to consider Wood's toy. Calfee gave Wood some suggestions, but did not expect to hear back from the inventor. But Wood took Calfee's advice to heart, and within a few months brought the professor a new and improved prototype. This became the Phonics Desk, LeapFrog's first product.

Wood had garnered $800,000 from relatives, friends, and Cooley Godward clients to launch his new company. Although he had no background in running a corporation, Wood had prepared the ground carefully, and he was sure he had a product that would go over well. He was right, and the Phonics Desk was a hit with parents and children. The release of the Phonics Desk did not go altogether smoothly, however. The young company had difficulty getting its products delivered, and in its first year LeapFrog spent $300,000 on air freight. But demand was strong, and the company set out to make a second phonics toy. Sales in 1995 were $3 million.

LeapFrog came on the market at a time when other educational toymakers were suffering. Sales of educational toys on the order of Lincoln Logs and Playskool pounding benches had languished for years when a new, high-technology wave of toys came out in the early 1980s. The first reading software, Learning Co.'s "Reader Rabbit," came out in 1984 and went on to sell millions of copies. "Math Blaster," a math game for kids, also came out that year, under the auspices of Davidson & Associates Inc. in Palos Verdes, California. Broderbund Software developed interactive "Living Books," and companies as powerful as Disney began pushing educational software by the early 1990s. Then Sony Corporation's PlayStation debuted in 1995, a video game that far surpassed educational computer programs in popularity. Within a few years, the educational software market had all but dried up. Yet LeapFrog seemed to belong to a second wave in the educational toy industry, and it eventually fared far better than the makers of "Reader Rabbit" and other competitors.

LeapFrog's Phonics Desk differed from other products in the educational market in that it was not computer software but a sturdy plastic toy. It was designed for very young children, and Wood had already determined that no other toy on the market filled its particular function. Although school-age children had a host of electronic toys to choose from by the mid-1990s, not much else was aimed at the preschool set. After initial sales went well, LeapFrog hired executives with toy industry experience. In early 1997 the company hired a vice-president for sales and marketing, Brad Crawford, who had previously worked for the toy company Little Tikes. At Little Tikes, Crawford already had experience managing accounts with major toy retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target. These companies soon became major clients of LeapFrog. That year the company also hired another former toy company executive to oversee engineering and manufacturing. LeapFrog sales took off, and by 1997 the company had distribution in almost ten countries overseas as well as a growing domestic market. The company announced sales growth of 300 percent between early 1996 and early 1997. But the company really took off after winning the backing of a huge multinational education and training conglomerate, Knowledge Universe.

Sale to Knowledge Universe in 1997

By 1997 LeapFrog was off to a great start, with growing sales of its Phonics Desk and one other toy. But the company had potential to do more. It was in a unique position in the market and seemed to have tapped a demand other toy companies had overlooked. LeapFrog began looking for an investment partner who could provide cash for further growth. In 1997 Wood and his investors sold 50 percent of the company to Knowledge Kids, a division of Knowledge Universe, for $50 million. Knowledge Universe had been founded only a year earlier by Michael Milken, his brother Lowell, and Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation. Milken was perhaps the most notorious financier of the 1980s, a high-flying dealmaker for Drexel Burnham Lambert who was ultimately convicted of six counts of securities fraud. Milken paid a fine of $447 million and served 22 months of a ten-year prison term. He was barred for life from working in the securities industry, and after his release from prison, still one of the richest men in the country, he worked in several philanthropic enterprises and began the holding company Knowledge Universe. Knowledge Universe was dedicated to education in a broad spectrum, from training of adult workers to daycare facilities. Milken and Ellison seemed particularly intrigued with the influence of new technology on education, and so LeapFrog seemed like a natural choice for the conglomerate to acquire. The company's Knowledge Kids division was headed by Michael Kalinske, a former president of one of the top U.S. toy companies, Mattel. Kalinske had the kind of expertise and contacts in the toy industry that Michael Wood could not duplicate. Although Wood remained president of his company, Kalinske's clout quickly pushed LeapFrog into new markets and greatly expanded sales.

At the time of the acquisition by Knowledge Universe, LeapFrog's sales stood at around $10 million. Two years later, sales had jumped to around $70 million. Soon after its acquisition, LeapFrog itself acquired Explore Technologies Inc., which owned a technological process called NearTouch. NearTouch formed the basis of LeapFrog's new product line of LeapPad point-and-press talking books. The company brought out ten new products in the two years after the sale to Knowledge Universe, zeroing in on products for children ages three to ten. In 1999 the company opened a new division, called LeapFrog SchoolHouse, which marketed LeapFrog products directly to schools. The SchoolHouse division developed a set of educational toys with some functions different from the main company's more parent-oriented line. It called its new school-oriented line Leap into Literacy, and this was designed specifically to meet the needs of classroom teachers. The core product of the new line was the LeapPad, a toy that could hold a variety of electronic "interactive" books. Children used an electronic pen to point to words or letters, and the LeapPad produced the appropriate sounds. The LeapPad began with just a few titles, but by 2000 there were more than 30 books in the SchoolHouse line, including titles for kids up to fifth grade and in subjects such as geography, music, and history. The Leap into Literacy line also included the LeapDesk, a larger version of the LeapPad with removable three-dimensional plastic letters. Children could use the LeapDesk to do word or letter recognition exercises. The LeapDesk also had an assessment mode, which administered eight different tests to determine students' skill levels. The LeapMat was an even larger format letter-recognition toy. Children touched circles on the mat to hear an associated letter and its sound. The Leap into Literacy toys came with a comprehensive phonics curriculum, which was developed to correlate with existing state standards for teaching reading.

Public Stock Offering in 2002

Annual sales at LeapFrog reached steadily upward, getting close to $200 million by 2000. The company expanded in many ways, hiring more employees (from 85 in late 1999 to almost 450 by 2001), moving into international markets, and increasing its penetration of the school market through its SchoolHouse division. The company continued to focus on sturdy portable toys even as it evolved products for older children. Perhaps for this reason it did well even as the educational software market fell apart. Educational software that had been selling for $50 plunged to $20 as competitors slashed prices and discount stores offered cheap titles. The industry suffered as investors backed out. But LeapPad seemed unaffected by this and was the stellar player in the educational toy segment. In 2000, the LeapPad garnered a variety of awards. By 2001, with toy sales overall flat, LeapFrog had revenue of more than $300 million, a 95 percent increase over the previous year, and net income of more than $10 million. Its products were now in stores everywhere. Its largest customer was Wal-Mart, which was responsible for 30 percent of the company's sales. Toys 'R' Us was a close second, accounting for 28 percent of sales, and the department store chain Target generated approximately 10 percent of sales. The only sore spot in 2001 was Kmart, which accounted for another 10 percent of LeapFrog's sales in 2001, but filed for bankruptcy and had trouble paying the toy supplier. But LeapFrog Enterprises now had a number of hit toys, including LeapPad, with 35 different titles that could be plugged into it, the LeapStart Learning Table for younger kids, and for older children the Twist and Shout math toy, Turbo Twist Vocabulator, and the iQuest, a palm pilot-like device that gave students quiz questions on a variety of topics from math to social studies. These toys retailed between roughly $40 and $60.

With LeapFrog's products so well known and thriving, the company decided to file for a public stock offering in 2002. LeapFrog hoped to raise $150 million from the offering, which was only for a portion of the company. Knowledge Universe owned 86 percent of LeapFrog by that time. The stock market had been falling since 2001, and the week LeapFrog debuted was particularly turbulent. A sharp decline early in the week led four other companies to delay their public offerings, but LeapFrog went ahead, pricing its stock at what was considered a modest $13 a share. The price rose almost immediately, despite the fact that a competitor filed suit against LeapFrog for patent infringement the following day. The offering went through in July, and as LeapFrog entered its crucial holiday sales period a few months later, it predicted a 30 percent jump over the previous year. LeapFrog's share price rose almost 80 percent between July and December. For the 2002 Christmas season LeapFrog's LeapPad was the fourth best-selling toy in the country, and a collection of electronic books to be read on the LeapPad took the number one spot. "Milken Bumps Barbie," declared Forbes magazine (February 3, 2003), marking LeapFrog's astonishing rise to become the fourth largest toy company in the United States. The Wall Street Journal (January 6, 2003) ranked LeapFrog the best performing initial public offering of 2002, noting that the company had done so well because "Investors knew, and loved, the product."

LeapFrog looked to increase its sales in Japan over the next few years. Beginning in 2002 it had partnered with Sega Toys Ltd. and the Benesse Corp. to introduce Japanese versions of its LeapPad product line. By 2003 the company's products were sold in more than 25 countries. LeapFrog hoped to maintain interest at home in its product line by offering updated titles to be read with its LeapPad base, and to develop more sophisticated toys for older children as well. The company had scarcely stumbled since its inception, and was exceedingly successful even during a recessionary economy and a generally flat toy market in the early 2000s. It remained to be seen whether LeapFrog could maintain its remarkable momentum, but its future seemed quite promising.

Principal Divisions: LeapFrog SchoolHouse.

Principal Competitors: Educational Insights, Inc.; Vtech Industries, L.L.C.

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/LeapFrog-Enterprises-Inc-Company-History.html

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Mattel

Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. Its imports include Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. It was founded in 1945 by Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler (hence the name "matt-el"). Handler's wife Ruth Handler would later become president and is credited with establishing the Barbie product line for the company in 1959. Today the Barbie line is responsible for more than 80% of Mattel's profits. In 2007, Mattel voluntarily issued major recalls of its imports (see 2007 Product recalls section).

Corporate governance

Corporate leadership

• Robert A. Eckert, Chairman of the Board, CEO (since May 2000)
• Kevin Farr, CFO
• Neil Friedman, President Mattel Brands
• Ellen L. Brothers, President American Girl Brands
• Bryan G. Stockton, President of International
• Thomas A. Debrowski, Executive VP of World Wide Operations
• Alan Kaye, Senior VP of Human Resource
• Bob Normille, Senior VP, General Counsel and Secretary

Board of directors

Current members of the board of directors of Mattel Inc. are:

• Robert A. Eckert, Chairman
• Tully Friedman
• Michael Dolan
• Vasant Prabhu
• Dominic Ng
• Andrea Rich
• Ronald Sargent
• Christopher A. Sinclair
• G. Craig Sullivan
• John Vogelstein
• Kathy White

Corporate Responsibility

Mattel rolled out its Global Manufacturing Principles^[1] (GMP) in 1997, designed to set safe and fair treatment of employees. Mattel created an independent monitoring programme for GMP compliance to police the principles throughout its supply chain, publishing results since 1998. These principles formed the benchmark of corporate responsibility reporting for the company in years to come. In 2003, Mattel issues its first Global Reporting Initiative^[2] report^[3] to publicly assess the success of the GMP and commit to improvements. Simultaneous to this report, Mattel issued their 2004 Corporate Responsibility^[4] report, the first to be issued by a toy company. As of 2007, no other toy company has issued a public Corporate Social Responsibility report^[5]. From both the 2004 and 2007 reports, although clear majority percentages of Mattel-owned facilities are regularly audited, it can be seen that Mattel has room to expand its supply chain auditing (page 13 of the 2007 report commits Mattel to increasing auditing to 30% of their third party suppliers, for example)^[6]. Following the high-profile recalls of 2007, Mattel appointed Geoff Massingberd as Vice President of Corporate Responsibility^[7], taking charge of developing and implementing worldwide programs to underscore Mattel’s commitment to business integrity, reporting directly to the CEO.

The Learning Company acquisition

In May 1999, at the height of the Dot.com bubble Mattel acquired The Learning Company for $3.5 billion in stock^[8] or 4.5 times annual sales.^[9] The Learning Company was considered at the time one of the leading entertaiment and educational software companies, owner of such titles as Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego, Myst, Riven and National Geographic^[10] but had in 1997 accumulated losses of $475 million.^[11] Mattel thought that this acquisition would help business diversification by giving the company a leading position in the market of consumer software^[12]. Mattel CEO Jill Barad expected to have direct internet sales for all Mattel's toys and predicted that Mattel sales over the Internet would reach $1 billion in a few years.^[11]

In third quarter of 1999, Mattel expected The Learning Company to post $50 million in profits but in reality it posted losses of $105 million^[13], depite this CEO Jill Barad continued optmistic. Things got worse on the fourth quarter, as The Learning Company's pre-tax losses reached $183 million. For the year The Learning Company's pre-taxes losses were $206 million^[14], on revenues of $750 million.^[15] The Learning Company's losses depressed Mattel's 1999 result, Mattel posted a $82 million net loss compared to a $206 million net income in 1998.^[16] Mattel also warned that it would take a revamping charge of $75 million to $100 million in the first quarter of 2000 because of The Learning Company.^[17]

By 2000, Mattel was losing $1.5 million a day with The Learning Company^[18], and Mattel's stock price (which reached a high of $45 in March 1998) traded at $11 in February 2000.^[19] Under pressure on February 3rd Mattel's CEO Jill Barad resigned but received a $50 million severance package.^[20] In April Mattel announced that it was selling The Learning Company, analysts predicted that The Learning Company could be sold for $400 million, then for $200 million^[21]. In the end, in October, The Learning Company was sold to Gores Technology for nothing other than a percentage of The Learning Company's future profits.^[22] In addition Mattel fired 10% of its workforce to further cut costs. ^[23] As a result of this restructuring Mattel posted a net loss of $430 million for the year 2000. ^[24]

2007 Product recalls

On August 2, 2007, Mattel's Fisher-Price subsidiary recalled almost a million Chinese-made toys, including Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street toys because of potential hazards from parts of the toys which were colored using lead-based paint.^[25][26]

In worst cases, Mattel toys' lead in paint was found to be 180 times the limit^[27]. The paint on the toys was up to 11% lead, or 110,000 parts per million. US Federal law allows just 0.06% lead, or 600 parts per million. Children who suck on or ingest toys or jewelry with high lead content may be poisoned, which can lead to learning and behavior problems, even death in some cases.^{[citation needed]}

On August 14, 2007, Mattel recalled over 18 million products because it was possible that they could pose a danger to children due to the use of strong magnets that may detach. Strong small magnets could be dangerous to the children if two or more were ingested, attracting each other in the intestines and causing damage. Some instances were reported. A child swallowed a Polly Pocket toy magnet and had to undergo a surgery.^{[citation needed]} The products were manufactured in China. At the time of the recall, none of the US or European safety legislation and standards addressed the specific hazard of strong magnets. Some of the products had been available in US stores since 2003, during which time Mattel did not flag them up as being harmful enough to warrant a recall. After incidents with similar magnetic toy parts being swallowed, causing perforation of the intestines, Mattel re-wrote their policy on magnets, finally issuing this recall in August 2007.^[28]

Recalled items included die-cast Cars character, Sarge, made between May and July 2007, were found to have been manufactured using paint containing higher than acceptable levels of lead (436,000 recalled globally), 7.1 million Polly Pocket toys produced before November 2006; 600,000 Barbie and Tanner Playsets; 1 million Doggie Daycare; Shonen Jump's One Piece; and thousands of Batman Manga toys due to exposed magnets.^[29] 18.2 million items were recalled in total.

Zhang Shuhong, co-owner of the Lee Der Toy Company, which had made a number of toys for Mattel, committed suicide by hanging himself at one of his company's factories in Foshan on August 11, 2007, according to authorities.^[30] In the factory's loading bay, the BBC's Quentin Somerville found boxes of toys made for Mattel and Fisher-Price going nowhere. The Lee Der business was closing for good.^[31]

On September 4, 2007, Mattel recalled a further 530,000 affected toys in the US - and 318,000 outside the US - after its intensive testing found that the Chinese-made products contained levels of lead in painted parts that were above the acceptable limit set by the company. This third recall in a month included accessories for Barbie dolls and Fisher-Price toys.^[32]

Lawsuits

Some of the lawsuits against Mattel are as follows:

• Keller Rohrback L.L.P. Files Suit Against Mattel, Inc. for Selling Toys Covered in Lead Paint^[33]
• Mattel Lawsuit Seeks Lead Tests for Children ^[34].Class action wants toymaker to pay for medical testing.
• Family files suit against maker of Polly Pocket after son undergoes surgery^[35]
• Shareholders File Lawsuit Against Mattel Over Toy Recalls^{[citation needed]}

Effect on Mattel

Mattel is now faced with declining market share and flat sales of its core toys^{[citation needed]}. After the recalls have been announced by Mattel toys, some parents^{[attribution needed]} are mulling a Mattel toy boycott^{[citation needed]}. Four corporations won Bad Product Awards this year, namely Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Mattel and Takeda. The world federation of consumer organisations, Consumers International (CI) announced the winners of the International Bad Product Awards, to be presented at CI's World Congress in Sydney, Australia, 29 Oct - 1 November 2007^[36].

Fortune magazine rated the recall of Mattell's products (and other problems with Chinese goods) as its 'Dumbest Moment' in business for 2007^[37]

Mattel’s Response

Mattel has increased audits and testing of all products. In Aug 2007, CEO, Mr Robert Eckert said, “We were let down, and so we let you down,” while referring to the three massive product recalls for lead contamination of paint.

On September 21, 2007 Mattel’s Executive Vice-President for worldwide operations, Mr Thomas Debrowski, travelled to Beijing and in a meeting with China’s product safety chief, Mr Li Chanjiang, took full responsibility for the magnet recalls and said that, “vast majority of those products that were recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel’s design, not through a manufacturing flaw in China’s manufacturers.”^{[38] [39] [40]} Reading a prepared text, he continued, “Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologises personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of your customers who received the toys.”^[41]

Partnerships

In March of 2005 Mattel partnered with Oasys Mobile to extend their market into the mobile field. The partnership was announced on March 16, 2005 and gave Oasys Mobile the right to produce games on such licenses as UNO, Ker Plunk!, Toss Across, and Rock'em Sock'em Robots.^[42] Since then the two have worked together to add such licenses as the Barbie, Magic 8 Ball and Max Steel IPs to Oasys' portfolio. These subsequent parnerships also extended the territories that they could market their products in. The new markets included, Japan and Taiwan for the Barbie license and Japan, China, Korea, India, and the Philippines for the UNO license.^[43]

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattel}

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Fisher-Price

Fisher-Price is a company which produces toys for infants and children, headquartered in East Aurora, New York. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel, Inc.

History

Founded in 1930 by Herman Fisher, Irving Price and Helen Schelle, the name Fisher-Price was established by combining two of the three founders' names. Fisher worked previously in manufacturing, selling and advertising games for a company in Churchville, New York. Price had retired from a major variety chain store, and Helen Schelle previously operated Penny Walker Toy Shop in Binghamton, New York. Fisher-Price’s fundamental toy- making principles centered on intrinsic play value, ingenuity, strong construction, good value for the money, and action. Early toys were made of heavy steel parts and ponderosa pine, which resisted splintering and held up well to heavy use. The details and charm were added with colorful lithographic labels ^[1].

In 1931, the three founders took 16 of their wooden toys to the American International Toy Fair in New York City and they quickly became a success. The first Fisher-Price toy ever sold was "Dr. Doodle" in 1931; – the same toy, in excellent condition, would be worth a considerable amount in today's collectables market ^[2] . In the early 1950s, Fisher-Price identified plastic as a material that could help the company incorporate longer-lasting decorations and brighter colors into its toys. "Buzzy Bee" was the first Fisher-Price toy to make use of plastic ^[3]. By the end of the 1950s, Fisher-Price manufactured 39 toys incorporating plastics.

During the 1960s, the Play Family (later known as Little People) product line was introduced and soon overtook the popularity of earlier toys. Herman Fisher retired at the age of 71 in 1969 and the Quaker Oats Company bought Fisher-Price the same year.

In 1991, Fisher-Price regained its independence from The Quaker Oats Company and became a publicly traded company. Two years later, in November 1993, Fisher Price became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel. A new management team set the company’s focus on basic, infant and preschool products and began expansion into international markets. By 1997 Mattel decided to market all of its preschool products under the Fisher-Price name.

[edit] Products

Fisher-Price has created approximately 5,000 different toys since the early 1930s. One of Fisher-Price’s best-known lines is Little People toys, which includes people and animal figures along with various play sets such as a house, farm, school, garage and vehicles. The figures, which originally were wooden peg-style characters, are now molded of plastic and have detailed features ^[4].

In addition to Little People, some of the toys and toy brands that have remained popular for many years include Power Wheels, View-Master, Rescue Heroes, the Chatter Telephone, and the Rock-a-Stack. Other brands marketed under the Fisher-Price name include Disney, Sesame Street, Barney, Dora the Explorer and See 'n Say.

Fisher-Price also designs and sells infant care products and has begun developing electronic toys for preschoolers.

[edit] August 2007 Toy Recall

On August 2, 2007, Fisher-Price recalled close to a million toys, including the Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street toys because of possible hazards due to the toys being coated in lead-based paint. ^[5] Purchasers of Fisher-Price toys can get information on country specific recall details and share the facts about affected toys in their area by visiting Mattel Voluntary Safety Recall Facts. ^[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher-Price

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