Part of the reality of modern society is the requirement to consume. That is part of the balance between inflation and deflation, economic growth and depression. The trick is to motivate consumers to consume your product. Rather than a cheap, soft, little teddy bear, parents have been motivated to buy the furby.
Now the trick is, how do you motivate buying of waste oil plants? The profit motive doesn't seem to work well so far. Maybe we should use infotainment. Common sense doesn't seem to work. (Just joking, sort of.)
Furby's success hints at
psychology of consumerism
Copyright © 1998 Nando Media
Copyright © 1998 The Christian Science Monitor
NEW YORK (December 1, 1998 2:15 p.m. EST
nandotimes.com) - At 2 a.m., with a brisk north
wind blowing, the line started forming outside of
Kay-Bee Toys in Jersey City, N.J., as word spread
that the store had received a shipment of 100
"Furbys."
By 5:45 a.m., the store had handed out numbers to
the half-frozen mothers and fathers waiting in line and
quickly sold out of the fuzzy stuffed animals, which are
programmed to sneeze, blink, wiggle their ears, and
demand attention in their own language, Furbish.
"We're getting calls about every two minutes from
people trying to buy them," says assistant manager
Marilyn Ramos.
Welcome to the world of holiday toy mania. Almost
every year, parents brave blizzards, wait overnight in
parking lots, or get in fistfights to buy the "hot toy."
This year is no different, and the season's top toy is
certainly the Furby.
Last week, two women were injured - one claimed
she was bitten - in a frenzy for Furbys in O'Fallon, Ill.
In Tewksbury, Mass., police had to be called in to
quell an unruly crowd waiting for a Furby-filled
Wal-Mart to open. But the rush for Furbys is not just
this year's version of Beanie Babies or the Hula
Hoop: It's also a lesson in how manufacturers can
create a craze. Getting the toy on the talk-show circuit
is a must, but there's also an element of the
unexpected that goes into making a toy the holiday
bestseller.
"For the media it becomes a part of the holiday story:
What is the really hot toy?" says Pamela Rucker of
the National Retail Federation in Washington.
All of the hype feeds on itself. Internet surfers can ride
an electronic wave to eBay, where Furbys are being
auctioned off. On Friday, a seller in Schererville, Ind.,
auctioned off two Furbys that had never been out of
their boxes for $262. They retail for $29.95 each.
In past years, this kind of mania has engulfed
retailers when the producers of Sesame Street have
come out with a new toy modeled after one of their
TV characters, such as "Tickle Me Elmo." Or,
sometimes, a movie begets a line of toys. But toy
companies have also learned that there are ways to
help create that demand.
This September, Tiger Electronics Ltd., a subsidiary
of Hasbro, got Furbys on such shows as "Today" and
"Rosie O'Donnell." "(The TV hosts) generated a lot of
excitement," says Terri Bartlett, a spokeswoman for
the Toy Manufacturers of America in New York.
The Furbys were six weeks from hitting the shelves,
yet by the time they arrived at FAO Schwarz on Oct.
2, parents were frothing. TV news showed long lines
of people waiting to buy the furry toys. "The reports of
the long lines only perpetuated the frenzy," says
Rucker.
For retailers, the strength of the demand caught them
by surprise. "We felt it would be a good seller, I can't
say we thought it would be a hit," says Rebecca
Caruso, a spokeswoman for Toys 'R' Us in Paramus,
N.J. "Every retailer would love to be able to predict
what will be the hot toy for the year."
Once it became clear that consumers were sweeping
the toys off the shelves, retailers tried to order more.
Caruso says her company has ordered 500,000.
"We expect them in continually through January," she
says.
Gotta have it - other hot sellers this holiday
season:
Blues Clues
Bounce Around Tigger
Barbie
Digital videodisc players
Recordable CD players
By RON SCHERER, Staff writer of The Christian
Science Monitor
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