Most of the games our grandkids have, I don’t recognize. I remember our kids had games that were familiar to me from when I was a kid, but the old “classic” games just don’t seem to be popular today, or maybe they don’t even make them anymore.
Even the ones that you think are classic, like Monopoly, Clue, Sorry, etc. aren’t really the same games — they’re “Star Wars Monopoly,” or “Harry Potter Clue” and they don’t play by the same rules that I remember.
But one game that I remember from when I was a kid and seems to still be around is Mr. Potato Head.
I’m not sure it is as popular as it once was, but I still see it in stores and I think our grandkids have it.
Mr. Potato Head was created by the American inventor George Lerner, who gained inspiration from his own childhood, when he made dolls from potatoes for his younger sisters. His idea for Mr. Potato Head was to give children a toy they could design themselves. The original toy sold for less than a dollar. No plastic body was included — kids, or their parents, had to find a real potato to stick the plastic parts into.
Turns out that the idea was poorly received, partly due to the food rationing of World War II, but a cereal company bought the toy for $5,000 and distributed only the plastic face parts in their cereal boxes. Hasbro bought the rights to Mr. Potato Head from the cereal company and successfully marketed the toy. Mr. potato Head was first advertised on television — it was the very first television commercial for a toy. The ad showed a little girl and boy playing with potatoes and attaching accessories, like eyes, ears, noses, hands, feed, hats, etc.
Pretty soon, parents were complaining about moldy potatoes all over their houses, so Hasbro came out with a plastic “potato” body. The original plastic mold was enlarged over time to make it easier for small children to insert the pieces into the manufactured “potato.”
Mr. Potato Head was officially inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2000.
You’re probably thinking, “what a great toy.” Entertaining, kids love it, totally non-violent, just good clean fun — just like it used to be when we were growing up.
But in today’s world, even Mr. Potato Head just can’t seem to avoid controversy.
Hasbro caused a stir when the toy manufacturer said it would remove the Mister from Mr. Potato Head, leaving us with only Potato Head.
As you might expect, like most things these days, the Hasbro announcement created a social media uproar. Hasbro said the idea behind the gender-free, brand-name change was to be more inclusive so that all could feel “welcome to the Potato Head world.” Which is a good thing I guess.
Hasbro said it would sell a playset without the Mr. and Mrs. designations, allowing kids to create their own type of potato families, with two moms or two dads.
The controversy over how a toy potato identifies itself seems to have passed, since Hasbro recently announced that Mr. (and Mrs.) Potato Head would remain unchanged.
So Mr. Potato Head has been through a lot during his more than fifty years, but maybe his crowning achievement came in the late 1960s with the release of the “Mr. Potato Head on the Moon” playset. That made the country proud by fulfilling President Kennedy’s vision of putting the first potato on the moon.
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