Waiting for the Renaissance
Richard Gottlieb -- Gifts and Dec, 1/1/2012 2:00:00 AM
Richard Gottlieb
Why these periods occur is up to question but one might posit that they represent a time in which there is a failure of imagination and/or an overwhelming desire to avoid risk. Today, I think we are seeing a neo-20th century period in both high and low culture. The toy industry is not immune.
High and Low Culture
If you speak to some experts about high culture today, they will tell you that there are too many Broadway revivals, too many remakes of movies and in general too many parts III and IV. Others will tell you that art lost its way with Andy Warhol and the Pop Art movement that celebrated the consumer aesthetic and low culture by replicating it in high art.
I claim no expertise in these areas of high culture other than to say that I know what I like. I do, however, feel compelled to comment on what I see as, with some notable exceptions, a continuing stagnation in toy industry creativity and the licensing industry that feeds it via cartoons and movies. I am waiting for the toy industry's renaissance. Are you?
The Toy Industry
We in the toy industry are living and working in an extended period of sequels, versions and iterations. We in short are overly dependent upon the past. Perhaps all of this 20th century toy and game nostalgia arises from a sense of lost direction. Maybe the toy industry, battered by the digital revolution and age compression, feels nostalgic for what it sees as a golden age of toy sales. Perhaps the toy industry looks at the Internet, iPads, iPods and iPhones as having, like the Pied Piper, taken all of the children away.
Monopoly
Let's start with the game department. I have been told that there are now over 200 versions of Monopoly. I am not sure of the accuracy of the figure but am confident in saying that a game department with a "Cat" AND "Dog" version of Monopoly is a game department that is stagnant. Take a walk down the game aisle and see how many versions of Trivial Pursuit (over 30 years old), Scrabble (well over 70 years old) and Monopoly (closing in on 90 years) there are. Hasbro,
which owns Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley, has spent an enormous amount of time, money and creativity recreating its past.
Don't get me wrong, it makes eminent business sense to synergize your assets, particularly the evergreen ones. Short term gains, however, give way to long term losses when consumers go elsewhere for their entertainment because the game department is simply too limited in its offerings.
There is hope. While Hasbro has struggled with its game sales over the last few years, new, interesting and exciting game concepts (Euro Games for example) have prospered. Perhaps a few less versions of Scrabble and Monopoly will make space for more 21st century game concepts.
Licensing
I think nothing demonstrates a lack of creativity more than one movie company's decision to make a movie out of the 1970s, short lived cartoon series Hong Kong Phooey. Why would a company turn to a third rate cartoon (sorry Hong Kong Phooey fans but it is) when they could actually hire young talent to create new and exciting properties? Hong Kong Phooey is no classic from the Golden Age. It is simply something easy to resurrect because it exists. It's lazy.
How many cartoons and movies.
We would love your feedback!
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