Product Description

The American toy business is massive, world dominating, cutthroat, exciting, and increasingly willing to sacrifice our kids in its frantic rush for profit. And yet, for all its rapaciousness, the industry is in the business of delighting and fascinating our children. Toys are one of the most emotive subjects in the world. We all remember our own toys; we care desperately about those we choose for our kids, knowing these objects help shape children's lives. They are also a constantly newsworthy item: every Christmas, which toys are hot -- and the scramble by parents to grab them before the stores are empty -- is front-page and TV bulletin news.

The Real Toy Story tells the tales of these toys and of the vast, world-dominating $22 billion American industry that creates them. The rewards for success are enormous: a top toy can earn billions -- H. Ty Warner shot into Forbes's World's Richest People list with his creation of Beanie Babies. The price of failure is just as huge -- the battlefield is littered with the corpses of once-successful toy companies whose multimillion-dollar gambles did not pay off.

It is a world of contrasts. The Real Toy Story looks at both sides: at Slinky, Elmo, Barbie, Transformers, and their creators, but also at the dark side of an industry that leads the way in cold-blooded marketing targeted at children. Parents will want to learn about how this seemingly benign industry exploits, sometimes surreptitiously, the many new media: cable television, the internet, CD-ROMs, sometimes even invading the playgrounds to peddle their wares to unsuspecting young people.

Perhaps more disturbingly, this hard-hitting book examines the vast gap between the cuddly image of toys and how almost all toys destined for America are actually produced in China under sweatshop conditions.

Today the toy industry is in the midst of rapid change. Tapping into the concern millions of adults have about the toys they choose for the children in their lives, this riveting exposé is essential reading for everyone who cares about kids.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #551715 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
London journalist Clark begins by invoking the magic of playtime, but the bulk of the book is a more prosaic snapshot of today's toy industry—a straightforward look at struggles and obstacles ranging from store closings and kids' ever-shorter attention spans to the dominance of Wal-Mart and China. Though the book is far from comprehensive—Clark scarcely mentions computer and video games and pretty much ignores the world outside the U.S. and England—almost any reader will find delight in his lively anecdotes, quotes and life stories from inventors, shop owners and toy-company executives. The subtitle's hint of darkness is here, too: Clark notes the "contrast between the industry's hard, often pitiless pragmatism and the cozy, lovable image of what it's selling." He sets the brutal closing chapter, "Santa's Sweatshop," in China's Pearl River Delta, the "workshop of the world." But this is no Fast Food Nation–style polemic intended to rouse readers to action; when the author's prose edges into commentary, he's more wistful than outraged. Too many of today's toys, he laments, "preach sex and violence" and are too closely linked to TV and film spinoffs. Anyone raised on Erector sets and Legos will relate. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"A fascinating exposé of the $20 billion- a-year toy industry, in which...executives jockey for market share with alarming bloodthirstiness."

-- Atlantic Monthly

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Toys are wonderful. They inspire love, comfort the lonely, enrich experience, embody the best childhood memories. A bedraggled toy dog in bed can hold back the night. A red plastic fire engine can put out a tantrum. A tiny doll stems tears. They encourage learning, nurture imagination and creativity, and turn people into lifelong collectors.

Toys are special. They give a glow, years after they've been discarded. Remember the excitement of opening presents: the belled clatter of a xylophone, the slither of a Slinky, the waxy smell of Crayola crayons. The feel of Play-Doh in your hands. That Fisher-Price airplane peopled with pop-in passengers. Toys are fun. More, they are a vital part of our lives, our culture, and our children's development. They are crucial for physical, emotional, intellectual, and social interaction.

Good toys enhance play. Play is the work of childhood, and toys are the tools of that work. They stimulate imagination, creativity, coordination. They let children experiment, discover themselves, solve problems, feel in control. They provide a two-way connection with adults. They help them make sense of the world and find their role in it.

The industry that produces these toys should also be special. It has to hold a singular place in our society: Few others affect such a critical and sensitive area of family life.

The American toy industry dominates not just the United States but also the whole of the globe. It is now a $21 billion business, and although fewer than 4 percent of the world's children are American, American children consume more than 40 percent of the world's toys.

It is massive and exciting. Every year it puts almost 3.6 billion toys into the home market alone, including 76 million dolls, 349 million plush toys, 125 million action figures, 279 million Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars...

The toy industry has never been a static one: Part of its genius has been a capacity to adapt with speed and flair. Today, though, the changes that buffet it are huge, the greatest for at least 50 years.

Kids are leaving behind their toys earlier and earlier. Partly it is that they are growing up faster -- the famous KGOY (kids getting older younger), a trend ironically encouraged by the toy industry's own marketing methods of using sex and violence to attract kid sales. Partly it is the competition from all the other rivals for childhood time and attention, especially from today's new "toys," such as iPods and cell phones -- electronics are eating the toy industry, laments one insider.

The industry that once drew vigor and innovation from the sheer number and challenging creativity of its range of companies is now corporation dominated. Just two toy companies and three retailers control a huge proportion of the world's toys, determining which will be produced and which die. And their overriding concern is not the wonderful, special nature of toys -- but the bottom line.

The fact is, the toy business is no longer fun and games. It's a harsh, corporate world, driven by social and demographic changes, concerns about stock prices, and fierce battles between global brands.

The rewards for success are enormous: A top toy can earn billions. H. Ty Warner shot into Forbes' World's Richest People list with his Beanie Babies. Likewise, the cost of failure can be catastrophic -- the battlefield is littered with the corpses of once-successful toy companies whose multimillion-dollar gambles did not pay off.

As a result, the toy business has become increasingly ruthless, willing to use "gloves off" methods and exploit its young customers. In the industry's struggle to adapt and to survive, our kids are regarded as walking wallets. Ever younger age groups are constantly being targeted. Research companies work with children as young as 2; by 4, most are already making requests by brand name. One-year-olds attract increasing attention.

Marketers put into play the whole range of sophisticated research and selling techniques developed for adults -- plus some extra (and sometimes dubious) techniques such as covert data collecting at child-oriented Web sites.

The impact of the U.S. toy industry on children can hardly be exaggerated. It reflects, influences, stimulates, and sometimes anticipates their wants and whims. Half the 40,000 commercials the average child views every year are for toys. Industry-promoted toy fashion fads condition toddlers for the wider marketing onslaught that will engulf them as they grow older.

Play has become too easy. "A child loves his play," wrote Dr. Benjamin Spock, "not because it is easy, but because it's hard." Kids have a short attention span. A good toy is versatile: a cardboard box can be house, boat, fortress, tent, sledge...you'll never improve on a box. But the toys produced today too often do everything at the touch of a button. Vast numbers have computer chips and many come with prescripted story lines. Far from encouraging creative play, they stifle it: The action comes from the toy, not from the child. The play patterns that result are structured by the movies or television programs that spawn them, or from the built-in electronics. No one says, "Let's pretend...."

Today's big toy companies like to see themselves as being in the "lifestyle entertainment" business. They are no longer selling playthings but promoting "properties." The only way to change the play with these toys is to discard, move on to a new one -- which, for the industry, is the perfect commercial solution. Even better, these toys are springboards to the sales of other toys and accessories in the line, promoting constant repeat buying. The industry's continued existence depends on selling instant gratification over and over again.

Today's toy people are not manufacturers. Most of the world's toys are made thousands of miles away in China by migrants toiling for a few cents an hour. The monstrous gap between the cost of manufacture and the selling price fuels the process to which toy companies devote themselves -- the marketing. Throughout America -- and throughout the world -- the way kids play is increasingly determined by a tiny number of executives who could just as effectively be selling soap or breakfast cereals (and probably have, or someday will).

There are still toy people who care: lone, maverick inventors conjuring up captivating playthings with passion and ingenuity; entrepreneurs with persistence and daring.

It is a business in which losers far outnumber winners. The losses are monumental, the wins colossal. And it can happen in the space of a season: one longtime commentator on the industry memorably says, "Every big toy company is just a stone's throw away from disaster."

It is a high-wire act without a safety net. That's why the thrills remain.

Copyright © 2007 by Eric Clark

Customer Reviews

Amazing Toy Story
The Real Toy Story: Inside the Ruthless Battle for America's Youngest Consumers by Eric Clark is a well researched investigation of the toy industry.

Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: If It's February, It Must be Toy Fair
Chapter 2: The Inventors
Chapter 3: What Hasbro Wants
Chapter 4: Barbie Goes to War: Battle of the Dolls
Chapter 5: The (Vicious) Business of Toys
Chapter 6: War of the Aisles: The Retail Battleground
Chapter 7: Grabbing Them Young
Chapter 8: Santa's Sweatshop
Afterword
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Sources
Index

Very well constructed, this book will be an eye-opener for the toy buying public. Each chapter focuses on one primary aspect of the toy industry. But within the chapter are some excellent anecdotes. For example, the first chapter, "If It's February, It Must be Toy Fair," takes you to the New York City International Toy Fair. This is one of two toy fairs, and it is where the buyers and sellers gather. The sellers, showing off their new toys and games, and the buyers, looking for the next Beanie Baby or Trivial Pursuit. but interspersed in the chapter are stories of the consolidation of the market, inventors who have risked everything on their toy or game, and observations from hardened toy executives.

Your perspective of the toy industry is probably that they are special companies, selling things that children will play with, cuddly stuffed animals, Barbie, games that bring families together. Basically, they aren't like any other industry. After all, they sell fun! But you know what, scrape away that "happy" exterior and they are no different from any other company. Driven by the bottom line and Wall Street expectations, they are as ruthless as any other. Maybe more so, as they guard their research and development very, very closely. And what is it that they research? If you guessed the buying and play habits of children from ages 1 to 6, you are correct. As more children grow up sooner, the toy companies have to market to younger and younger children. And what are they marketing? Brand recognition, sex, violence. You may get upset with the beer companies using sex to sell beer, but that is nothing compared to the marketing of dolls. They don't call it sex, per se, but "lifestyle marketing." And how about viral marketing? The companies themselves (Mattel, Hasbro, and Disney) may not have blogs or YouTube videos, but their advertising agencies are continually searching blogs for patterns. They also spin up websites that gather key information on your children, their habits, demographics, etc. It was chilling.

And then we get to the last chapter, Santa's Sweatshop. If you want to know about the manufacturing of your child's toy, an inside look at a Chinese economic zone will give you an excellent perspective of how your toy was made, with a first person account from one of the workers. It made me disgusted with the whole process. But since most, if not all (depending on where you shop), of your consumer goods are manufactured in China, the toy industry isn't very different from any other manufacturer doing business in China. A very sobering chapter.

This is a highly recommended read.

Expert exploration of the toy world
This is almost a fun book. It goes into the magic behind all the toys you've enjoyed personally or given to your kids or grandchildren. And, it will intrigue anybody who's ever wrangled with a Rubik's Cube, hugged a Gund Bear or become rich speculating in Mattel shares way back when Barbie was a girl. But, after the fun part, the book hits you in the gut. There's a nasty side to the toy business and author Eric Clark lays it out clearly as he describes child laborers who make toys in Third World sweat shops, particularly in China and Mexico. We recommend this book to anyone who buys toys for children, or to those who want to know about child labor and address its abuses. With its illuminating examination of invention, manufacture and retailing in the toy industry, this is a valuable resource.

Moo...
Few things look as pretty when they are stripped down to the inner workings, and the toy industry is no exception. This book takes readers on a tour of the day-to-day processes behind the manufacture and marketing of the average toy, exposing some of the more gruesome aspects of the business. Although the writing itself is a little dry and the author makes his point over and over again, the subject matter is fascinating and ultimately worth the read. The information, covering everything from sweat shops to marketing products for two-year-olds, is matter of fact on one level, chilling on another. If you have ever felt like just another cash cow, or object to the idea of your children being milked, this is a book worth checking out.