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Editorial: Bagging the Beanies Will the sought-after toys be retired - or retooled? Friday, September 10, 1999
Beanie Babies are cute and colorful and cost-effective . . . as long as they're bought in gift shops and not on the commodity market. They come complete with kid-friendly names (Zip, Nip, Snip and Chip the Cats, Scorch the Dragon and Beak the Bird), mini-biographies in verse and birth dates.
But does a recent announcement by creator, Ty Inc., spell Dec. 31, 1999, as the date of their mass demise? Ty issued an Internet statement that all Beanie Babies would be retired as of the end of the year.
Beanie lovers are up in arms. They feel ambushed and underappreciated, used and bamboozled. And their reactions are understandable whether the Ty announcement is on the level or a ploy to drive up interest and sales in a market that lately has been almost as soft as its pellet-filled toys.
Ty's creation of a toy phenomenon is the result of a two-stage process. First it designed a product that captured the imagination and the purchasing power of parents and children alike. But its real genius lies in market manipulation.
Through forced scarcity and periodic retirements of its beloved Beanies, the company has driven not only traditional sales but a brisk and lucrative trade on the secondary market.
Toy analysts do not believe Beanie Baby production will end suddenly and forever at the stroke of midnight. Despite a sluggish market, the Beanies still represent a cash menagerie. And there are signs, including an announcement by McDonald's that it will offer more Teenie Beanies with its Happy Meals come spring, that the line will keep on humming. More likely, a slightly modified, renamed version will be introduced to get the new millennium off to a toy-mad start.
And what will fuel the frenzy? Willing consumers who yammer about manipulation as they bid up the value to dizzying new heights. After all, in the world of nonessentials, it is the holder of the disposable cash who calls the tune. And if he's manipulated out of his earnings, he has no one to blame but himself.
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