What company created the most popular doll on earth,
one of the biggest action figures of all time
and sold more cars than all of Detroit?
If you said Mattel, you're right on the ball.
But how did the $4.5 billion giant
become masters of the toy universe?
You don't get to Numero UNO
without a few Wild Cards along the way.
Did you know that the Magic 8-Ball
was invented by the son of a clairvoyant,
and first marketed as a paper weight.
- They became a cultural touchdown,
a cultural phenomenon.
Or that one of Mattel's biggest successes
was purchased from an oatmeal company?
Or that He-Man was born
because of one of the biggest missteps
in the entire toy galaxy.
- Mattel made a catastrophic...
What am I trying to say?
Mattel made a catastrophic up.
You may think you know
all about the toys that built America,
but there's more to the story.
I'm Adam Richmond,
and this is The Snack Sized History of Mattel.
It's 1977 and something is coming from outer space
that will change not just the face of toys,
but the way toys are sold forever.
And Mattel is about to land an opportunity to get in on it.
But if they fumble, they'll be left
to fill a universe-sized void.
But before we get to that,
let's go back to the very beginning.
In America, business and babies are booming.
And one industry is ripe to explode,
toys.
- That generation that grew up through the depression,
went through World War II,
and had more disposable income.
And so the toy industry started
to really blossom and grow because of that.
One company wants
to get in on the toy craves, Mattel.
Named for Harold Matson and Elliot Handler.
Their company makes picture frames,
but they're keen to expand.
- Elliot come on.
And it's Elliott's wife, Ruth,
that will push Mattel to the next level.
When Harold resigns due to health issues,
Ruth steps up to take his place.
- It was Ruth, absolutely, running the company.
And of course at that time,
women were not running companies,
much less a manufacturing company.
Mattel has plenty of scrap material laying around,
and realizes they can use it to make doll house furniture.
When the dollhouse furniture takes off,
they decide to go all in on the toy business.
Eager to push the envelope,
they embrace the latest craze in materials, plastic.
- When injection molding and plastic came along,
toys can be produced faster, cheaper,
and a bigger variety of colors.
They release a string of plastic toys,
including the Birdy Bank, a plastic piano,
and the popular burp gun.
Adjust to movable site,
and you're ready to fire again.
But it's a plastic ukulele called the Uke-A-Doodle,
which gives Mattel their first real taste of success,
and Ruth Handler isn't about to let it slip away.
She wants to find the next big thing.
And based on her own daughter,
she knows that the only dolls
on the market are paper dolls,
or baby dolls designed for girls
to play housewife or mommy.
Ruth wants to make a doll for girls
that will show them they have choices.
On a family trip to Switzerland,
Ruth finds inspiration in the form of the Bild Lilli doll
- Lilli was not a very moral girl.
- She was really a very sassy seductive call girl.
Bild Lilli was invented more as a novelty for men.
But she brings back a Bild Lilli doll
to Mattel's design team.
- What do you think?
- Cute.
Despite plenty of naysayers,
including her own husband.
- Ruth, no mother is gonna buy her daughter
a doll with breasts.
- Ruth was a trailblazer,
and she wouldn't accept that.
- They hadn't made a doll in that size before,
and then you have to sew the clothes.
So all of that was very expensive,
and it was a tremendous risk
for them to take at the time.
But when the buyers meet Barbie, there's a problem.
- You're out of your mind.
It's the 1950s,
which looks like this.
- They didn't think Barbie was a fitting role model.
She wasn't a mother.
She didn't have children.
She was Barbie. She was herself.
Toy stores want nothing to do with Barbie,
so Mattel brings their new doll to the new media.
They market Barbie, not just as a doll,
but as having a life of her own.
- The genius of Barbie
is that Barbie was really not a one-time purchase.
So if Barbie is a cheerleader, she needs pompoms.
If Barbie has a dream house,
she'll need all the stuff that goes in the dream house.
Over the next five years,
Barbie gets a fan club, a car,
an array of careers,
and a doting boyfriend.
Mattel is the number one toy company in the country,
but they're neglecting a whole other half of the market,
boys.
- As the number one toy company,
the challenge is to stay at number one.
And one competitor is ready to pounce, Hasbro.
Mattel's Barbie success inspires Hasbro
to make a doll of their very own.
- Let's not call it a doll.
Okay. So what should we call it?
- It's an action figure.
And his name is...
G. I. Joe
Fighting man from head to toe
He's the world's first action figure,
and his first year of sales brings in $23 million,
about $189 million today,
making Hasbro number two
right on the heels of Mattel.
To stay number one,
Mattel will need to take back the boy's market.
But this new competition is just the tip of the iceberg.
There is a whole other universe out there
they can't even see yet.
But first, a snack sized quiz.
Mattel is the proud owner of the iconic Magic 8-Ball,
but why was it modeled after a billiards ball?
Is it to promote a billiards company,
because eight is considered a lucky number,
because eight looks like an infinity symbol,
or because its
inventor loved pool?
So, why was the Magic
8-Ball an eight ball?
To promote a billiards company.
Prior to being an eight ball,
the fortune telling device was actually a crystal ball,
but after doing a tie in
with the Chicago Billiards Company in 1950,
sales boomed and the design stuck.
Mattel is the number one toy company in the US,
with sales totalling over $85 million,
thanks to little girls and Barbie.
But Mattel has missed the boat on the boys toy market,
which now belongs to Hasbro
and their action figure "G. I. Joe."
And they're not the only company
hitting Mattel where it hurts.
Another new sensation comes from across the pond,
Matchbox, makers of tiny, realistic toy cars.
- There were quite unique because they were so small.
They fit in a matchbox hence their name.
When Elliot Handler sees his grandson
playing with a Matchbox car,
he notices a weakness.
- Is that as fast as it goes?
Elliot believes Mattel could do better
and decides to make a rival line of toy cars.
Elliot turns to longtime Mattel employee, Jack Ryan.
No, not this Jack Ryan.
Our Ryan is an engineer
whose previous job was designing missiles for the military,
a job that also helped him design
- Cute.
And now his mission
is to do the same for a toy car.
- Three,
two,
one.
The piéce de résistance
is a flaming orange loop to loop race track.
In 1968, the toy cars make their debut,
and they're called Hot Wheels.
Hot Wheels become the best selling toy car in the world.
But little does Mattel know they're headed for a crash.
A Mattel plant is destroyed by fire in 1970,
and millions of dollars of inventory are lost.
Then a shipyard strike cuts off any hope
of re-establishing their supply chain.
And it all goes down during a time of year
that makes or breaks a toy company,
the holiday season.
- In the 1970s, we did not have online shopping.
The product had to be on the shelf,
and that was the problem they faced.
Yet somehow, Mattel's profits
and their stock price are reported to be as high as ever.
Could it be too good to be true?
Yep.
- Mattel was now under fire
from the Securities and Exchange Commission
for falsifying some of it's accounting,
making things look rosier than they really were.
It all went back to Ruth Handler.
In 1975. Ruth is indicted on securities fraud.
- She decides to plead nolo contendere,
which means no contest.
Luckily for her, she had a judge
who gave her community service and a fine.
Ruth and Elliot resign
from the company they created.
Without their visionaries, Mattel is left to drift.
And though they go through some growing pains,
including the growing up Skipper doll.
When you turn her arm,
you can make her change instantly
from a little girl to a tall slender teenage doll.
Yup, it's a doll that grows breasts.
- And I suspect
that it was thought up by a lot of guys.
It really was one of those glorious missteps
that happened every once in a while.
But their biggest misstep might come in 1977.
Matilda's approach to make action figures
for an upcoming film,
but it's about weird space creatures,
and comes from an unknown director.
So, Mattel decides to pass
On one of the biggest films,
not just of this century, but the next.
- It was really the first hugely, hugely
successful toy line based on a movie.
Like the movie "The Action Figures"
made by another toy company named Kenner,
are a runaway hit, making over $100 million in revenue.
- Mattel made a catastrophic...
What am I trying to say?
Mattel made a catastrophic up.
Mattel attempts to find a franchise
to compete with "Star Wars."
They hemorrhage money to do tie-ins
with Battlestar Galactica,
Clash of the Titans,
and Flash Gordon.
All of which tank.
"Star Wars" is a force that no one can reckon with.
So how will Mattel find...
The power!
But first, a snack sized quiz.
What is the best selling Barbie doll of all time?
Princess Diana Barbie,
Totally Hair Barbie,
Malibu Barbie,
or Barbie and the Rockers?
So what's the best
selling Barbie of all time?
Totally Hair Barbie.
With the longest hair ever on a Barbie,
the doll sold over 10 million units
between 1992 and 1995.
She was so popular,
Mattel released a 25th Anniversary Edition in 2017.
It's the 1980s
and "Star Wars" has Mattel trying to find an action figure
to make a dent in a market dominated by Jedis.
At a loss for what to try next,
Mattel turns to the one group they hope can show them
how to fight the force, little boys.
Through market research,
they find boys repeat one word over and over when playing.
And according to those focus groups,
power looks something like this.
- There was a bodybuilding craze in the 1980s,
Arnold Schwartzenegger, Lou Ferrigno,
and all those guys in the bodybuilding genre
that really gave off this positive attitude.
So Mattel designers bulk up
some action figures they have lying around,
molding huge muscles from clay.
And at long last, they've got a prototype,
and after a little finesse, a final product,
and an ad introduces him to the world.
- Here's He-Man,
the most powerful man in the universe.
Now, I have the power.
But retailers aren't yet convinced.
Without a story as big as the "Star Wars" movies,
how can these toys compete?
So Mattel approaches Filmation,
a company behind some of the most iconic cartoons
of the 70s and 80s, including "Mighty Mouse,"
"Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,"
and "Star Trek: The Animated Series."
And after a year of development, comes...
He-Man
A lighthearted alter ego for He-Man,
named Prince Adam is born,
along with some TV friendly sidekicks
who all live on Planet Eternia.
- He-Man was revolutionary
in the fact that the toys were the impetus for the cartoon.
"He-Man and the Masters of the Universe"
becomes the highest rated kid show in America,
and Mattel rakes in $100 million
in toys and licensing by 1983.
In 1987, Mattel takes He-Man to the big screen
with a live action star studded
"Masters of the Universe" movie.
It's got all the sure fire ingredients
to make it a mega blockbuster hit, right?
Right?
- All right, let's talk about
the "Masters of the Universe" movie for a second.
- The film was not true to the source material.
- The script didn't work.
The costumes didn't work.
- Most of the film took place
on earth instead of Eternia.
- Just because a toy line works
doesn't necessarily mean emotion picture
based on the toy line will work.
The film's failure
causes a domino effect for the franchise.
The cartoon is shuttered as ratings tank.
- The toy business is a fashion business.
- One day something could be in
and three months later it's completely out
and no one's buying a thing.
Meanwhile, their nemesis, Hasbro,
successfully relaunches "G. I. Joe,"
and finds a $115 million mega hit franchise
in "Transformers."
And by 1991, Hasbro has acquired
board game giants, Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers,
leaving them with a veritable monopoly in the game space,
making Hasbro the number one toy company in the country.
Desperate to find a way back to their top spot,
Mattel establishes a games division,
but they won't stand a chance unless they find a hit.
Are they too late, or can they still find the one?
But first, a snack sized quiz.
In the 1980s, Mattel made toys to try to cash in
on the popularity of the movie "Gremlins."
What were they called?
Critters,
Ghoulies,
Boglins,
or Squanchers?
So what were Mattel's
imitation "Gremlins" known as?
Boglins.
The creature feature craze
inspired Mattel to sell "Boglins."
The puppet toys were advertised as "Creepy Swamp Goblins."
Although they never got their own movie,
the toys were designed by an alum
of the Jim Henson Company.
In 1990, Mattel is no longer
the number one toy company in America.
That title now belongs to their fiercest rival, Hasbro.
Hasbro's acquisition of Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers
helped them over the top.
- Hasbro essentially controlled
the entire board game industry.
But there's one now iconic game they missed,
a sleeper hit called UNO.
So where did it come from?
The game was invented in 1971
by a man named Merle Robbins,
as a solution to an argument with his son
around the of "Crazy Eights."
Robbins sells it out of his barbershop,
and soon, across the country.
By 1972, it's bought by International Games
who add a bold red and black color scheme.
By 1991, UNOs got Mattel's attention
with over 87 million decks sold.
But if Mattel wants UNO,
they'll have to play their cards right.
International Games has turned down multiple bids for UNO,
but Mattel wins with their offer
to acquire the entire company for an undisclosed amount.
Riding the success of UNO,
Mattel sets their sights on more acquisitions.
In 1993, they buy Fisher Price
for $1 billion in stock from Quaker Oats.
Yeah, that Quaker Oats.
And in 1997,
they buy former rival, Matchbox.
But with all these new brands under their belt,
Mattel might not be paying enough attention
to their tried and true Barbie.
By 2014, Barbie sales have plummeted 16%.
The risk pays off,
Barbie's new shade lands the cover of Time Magazine,
and her sales climb to a five year high.
- Body confidence was so important.
So this was really the right time.
But in 2018, Barbie
and the entire toy industry are in for another big change,
their largest retailer, Toys "R" Us files for bankruptcy.
If Mattel is going to make it in the digital age,
they'll have to figure out how to capitalize on it.
- Mattel really understood
how important content was going to be
to engage children in the stories.
Mattel dives headlong
into mobile apps and entertainment
with hit shows based on brands
like "Thomas, the Tank Engine,"
"Polly Pocket," and "Barbie."
- Companies were starting to look within their company,
to go, "Why don't we just use what we have?"
And so that saves them a lot of money.
It gives their product way more visibility,
and it gives them an opportunity yet again,
to sell more toys.
Mattel even reboots "Masters of the Universe"
in the fall of 2021.
- These have been toys that have created memories
From their early days as picture frame makers
to Barbies world and mastering the universe,
Mattel has sold billions of toys in over 100 countries.
- And you asked somebody about them,
and they light up because they remember those toys,
they were part of their formative childhoods.