Fisher-Price was founded in 1930 during the Great Depression by Herman Fisher, Irving Price, Price's illustrator-artist wife Margaret Evans Price and Helen Schelle.[2][3] Fisher worked previously in manufacturing, selling and advertising games for a company in Churchville, New York.[4] Price had retired from a major variety chain store and Helen Schelle previously operated Penny Walker Toy Shop[5] in Binghamton, New York. Fisher-Price's fundamental toy-making principles centered on intrinsic play value, ingenuity, strong construction, good value for the money and action. Early toys were made of heavy steel parts and ponderosa pine, which resisted splintering and held up well to heavy use. The details and charm were added with colorful lithographic labels.[6] Mrs. Price was the first Art Director and designed push-pull toys for the opening line, based on characters from her children's books.
The mayor of Aurora, New York supported Fisher by raising $100,000 in capital.[7] In 1931, three of the four founders took 16 of their wooden toys to the American International Toy Fair in New York City and they quickly became a success. The first Fisher-Price toy ever sold was "Dr. Doodle" in 1931.[8] In the early 1950s, Fisher-Price identified plastic as a material that could help the company incorporate longer-lasting decorations and brighter colors into its toys, introducing "Buzzy Bee"[when?] as the company's first.[9] By the end of the 1950s, Fisher-Price manufactured 39 toys incorporating plastics.[10]
During the 1960s, the Play Family (later known as Little People) product line was introduced and soon overtook the popularity of earlier toys.[11] The 'Family House' was one of the more popular Little People playsets.[11] Herman Fisher retired at the age of 71 in 1969 and The Quaker Oats Company bought Fisher-Price the same year.[12]
In 1991, Fisher-Price regained its independence from The Quaker Oats Company[how?] and became a publicly traded company.[13] Two years later, in November 1993, Mattel bought Fisher-Price. A new management group set the company's focus on basic, infant and preschool products and began expansion into international markets. By 1997, Mattel decided to market all of its preschool products under the Fisher-Price name.
In 2004, Royal Caribbean Cruise lines launched Fisher-Price Cabanas, play laboratories[clarify] for children on each of their cruise ships.[4]
Recalls
On August 2, 2007, Fisher-Price recalled close to a million toys, including the Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street toys, because of possible hazards due to the toys being coated in lead-based paint.[14][15]
Rock 'n Play
Fisher-Price recalled all 4.7 million of their Rock 'n Play sleepers on April 12, 2019, days after the company recalled 250,000 infant soothers.[16] The product, introduced in 2009, holds the sleeping baby in an inclined position. More than 30 infants have died while sleeping in a Rock 'n Play. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said these deaths occurred "after the infants rolled over while unrestrained or under other circumstances".[17]
Years before the introduction of the Rock 'n Play sleeper in the mid-1990s, the American Academy of Pediatrics' Back to Sleep campaign recommended that "babies should not sleep for long periods in inclined devices". In babies under one year old, dying during sleep (also known as SIDS, or "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome") is the leading cause of accidental death. The recommendation that babies sleep flat on their backs, in an empty crib, has cut this death rate in half.[18]
The Rock 'n Play was designed 15 years after these sleep recommendations were published and, according to an article from The Washington Post, violated them. Fisher-Price sold the Rock 'n Play without first getting medical advice from more than one pediatric specialist and without doing any real-world safety tests. They continued to sell it for years after the first deaths were reported.[18]
In January 2023, Fisher-Price re-announced the recall after additional infant deaths were reported.[19][20]
Products
Fisher-Price has created approximately 5,000 different toys since the early 1930s.[4] One of Fisher-Price's best-known lines is Little People toys, which includes people and animal figures, along with various play sets such as a house, farm, school, garage and vehicles. The figures, which originally were wooden peg-style characters, are now molded of plastic and have detailed features.[21]
Fisher-Price also designs and sells infant care products and has begun developing electronic toys[22] for preschoolers.
In 2009, Fisher-Price bought all toy rights to Thomas & Friends, except for the Wooden Railway line. Through Mattel's 2012 acquisition of HIT Entertainment, which subsequently became a division of Fisher-Price, Mattel now owns the property outright. With this, toys based on Mike the Knight and Bob the Builder have been subsequently released.[23]
During 1979–1983,[24][25] Fisher-Price issued the Woodsey line of toys, whose characters were forest animals.[24] It was accompanied by the Woodsey Log Library, a companion book series written by Marci Ridlon and illustrated by Cyndy Szekeres. Installments in the series included Grandma & Grandpa's Grand Opening, Uncle Filbert Saves the Day, Mayor Goodgrub's Very Important Day, and Lightning Strikes Twice.[26] Later in the line's run, Michael Hague took over as illustrator with Bramble Beaver's Bright Idea and The Seasons with V.B. Bird.[25]
Starting in the 1980s, seven games which carried the Fisher-Price name were developed by GameTek for the PC and the Commodore 64. In 1990, three of these titles were ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System:
Fun Flyer (1984) (never shipped initially, but eventually released in 1990)[30]
Other Fisher-Price products include Activegear for families on the go, books, software, car travel accessories, footwear, music, eyeglasses and videos.
