SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: What Makes a Must-Have Christmas Toy? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

What this episode is about

This content explores the characteristics that define a must-have Christmas toy, delving into various popular toys throughout the years and their impact on holiday traditions. It reflects on the cultural significance, marketing strategies, and consumer behaviors that contribute to a toy's popularity during the festive season.

Key takeaways

• Holiday retail: where Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas coexist, proving retail's version of time travel.
• Cabbage Patch Kids: the Blockbuster Movie of toys, but Star Wars may hold the 'empty-box' award.
• Xavier Roberts's Cabbage Patch fame stands on the shoulders of a woman's uncredited creation.
• 'Merry Christmas' on November 1st sparks Twitter fires; early celebrations are the new social battleground.
• Atari Pac-Man in 1982: proof that video games were, and still are, Christmas's silent night disruptors.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Chuck Bryan (Host)
• Josh Malcolm Clark (Host)

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Cabbage Patch Kids, Chuck Bryan, Cabbage Patch Kid, Josh Malcolm Clark
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Star Wars, Cabbage Patch Kids, Atari, Cabbage Patch Kid
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Hatchimals, Hatchimals, Wishbook Web, Wishbook Web
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Amazon, Wishbook Web, Wishbook Web, Keith Richards' autobiography
5. 20:00 – 25:00: Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, holiday advertising
6. 25:00 – 30:00: Heroic price-scarcity marketing, scarcity marketing, Hatchimals, Hatchimals
7. 30:00 – 35:00: toy flippers, Fingerlings, Heroic price-scarcity marketing, fear of missing out
8. 35:00 – 40:00: Michael Larson, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Heroic price-scarcity marketing
9. 40:00 – 45:00: Bloom Dolls, LOL Surprise, unboxing, LOL Surprise
10. 45:00 – 49:21: Fisher-Price, Hatchimals, evolution of early humans, FisherPrice links

Notable quotes from "SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: What Makes a Must-Have Christmas Toy? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"

• Happy holidays everybody. This is Chuck here with one of our episodes for our stuff you should know 12 days of Christmas toys playlist. We decided to put this together. Thought it'd be a fun.

  about Chuck Bryan · at 0:01

• Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there. There's Jerry over there. And this is W. Nope.

  about Josh Malcolm Clark · at 0:47

• Which was basically an empty box that said at some point in the future you will get Star Wars figures instead of this empty box.

  about Star Wars · at 3:40

• Was picked up by the media and one of the ways that was generated was by I think Kico who owned Cabbage Patch Kids at the time sent these dolls directly to reporters. That was…

  about Cabbage Patch Kids · at 8:26

• Not really. This was 1996. This was post high school even. But the this was such a craze that there was that characteristic violence where a Walmart employee was trampled while…

  about Wal-Mart · at 10:17

• If you go on Amazon they, you can spend 2 million bucks as a retailer to be on their you know on their top list or whatever.

  about Amazon · at 19:18

• Yeah. The people who made Hatchimals, Spin Master, Hatchimals were really hard to find in I think 2016, 17 and 18. and Spin Master was basically accused of purposefully using scarcity marketing.

  about Hatchimals · at 27:21

• Nothing to do with arrested development, but it is this is something that my daughter might like. Apparently, this is another thing you add water to and it blooms, but this is I don't think it hatches from an egg. I think.

  about Bloom Dolls · at 41:55

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Chuck Bryan — Person · Co-host · 2 mentions · first at 0:01
  Co-host and recurring speaker guiding the episode's discussion about must-have Christmas toys and scarcity marketing.
• Josh Malcolm Clark — Person · Co-host · 1 mention · first at 0:38
  Co-host who leads much of the conversation and presents theses about the history of must-have toys and marketing dynamics.
• Ryan's World — Person · Referenced influencer / product brand · 1 mention · first at 43:57
  Referenced as a YouTube channel/brand whose unboxing-driven product line is part of current toy lists.
  They're like into like DJ stuff and fashion and all that, but they also have Surprise. And there's also a kid named Ryan's World. I don't think that's his last name, but that's…
• Jacob Bodsgard — Person · Referenced author · 2 mentions · first at 26:05
  Referenced as the author of an article on Marketing Land discussing scarcity marketing (e.g., Pappy Van Winkle, Disney Vault).
  They were going to be released and what a big deal that was. Yeah, that was a big one. And Bodsgard makes the point like by making them limited and available also only for a…
• Jeffrey – Merrit, Jerry — Person · Producer / Supporting staff · 1 mention · first at 0:51
  Mentioned as part of the podcast team; briefly acknowledged in episode introduction.
  Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there. There's Jerry over there. And this is W. Nope.
• Joe Randazzo — Person · Referenced colleague / pop-culture tie · 1 mention · first at 43:29
  Mentioned in relation to comedic 'unboxing' Lego Man videos; referenced as a friend and earlier episode guest/topic.
  Yeah. Because our good friend Joe Randazzo did his Lego Man unboxing videos that were still to me one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
• Kico (owner/related figure to Cabbage Patch Kids) — Person · Referenced as owning or being related to Cabbage Patch Kids in the discussion · 1 mention
  Establishes the ownership/role of a key figure in the narrative about Cabbage Patch Kids; reduces ambiguity around brand/ownership
  Was picked up by the media and one of the ways that was generated was by I think Kico who owned Cabbage Patch Kids at the time sent these dolls directly to reporters. That was…
• Bodsgard (clarified as a surname, possibly a mishearing of a real person) — Person · Mentioned as an individual in the dialogue; referenced in context of a potential owning/association to a topic · 1 mention
  Clarifies ambiguity around a person referenced in discussion; prevents misattribution
• Michael Larson — Person · 2 mentions · first at 38:20
  Right. I know what you're talking about. This is the like the Michael Larson approach to the holidays. The man who got no whammies on Press Your Luck.
• Charles W. Chuck Bryan — Person · 1 mention · first at 0:49
  Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there. There's Jerry over there. And this is W. Nope.
• Xavier Roberts — Person · 1 mention · first at 2:14
  That's right. in Helen, Georgia when they were handmade by Xavier Roberts, who I recently learned stole that idea from a woman.
• Rosie O'Donnell — Person · 1 mention · first at 10:06
  What about Tickle Memo? That was a big one. Thanks to Rosie O'Donnell.
• Jacob Bodsgard — Person · 1 mention · first at 26:05
  Oh, I should say that's from Marketing Land. A guy named Jacob Bodsgard.
• Mark Elwood — Person · 1 mention · first at 29:21
  Yeah. That's from a article from Market Watch by Mark Elwood. He found that one.
• Lisa Smith — Person · 1 mention · first at 36:34
  Those people that Chuck hates and you want to be enterprising, there is a article written by Lisa Smith. It's on Investipedia and it's called the guide to reselling toys at Christmas for extra money.
• Joe Randazzo — Person · 1 mention · first at 43:29
  Yeah. Because our good friend Joe Randazzo did his Lego Man unboxing videos that were still to me one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
• tuk tuk — Person · 1 mention · first at 47:26
  Eternally grateful for your work. They give a hearty laugh whenever I steal your characters tuk the wise protohomo sapien and Urg, the folly prone genetic defect to elucidate…
• John Labushkin — Person · 1 mention · first at 48:16
  I'll keep listening as long as you keep podcasting. That is from John Labushkin.
• Eddie Vedder — Person · 1 mention
• John Hodgman — Person · 1 mention
• Urg — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

• Marketing Land — Book · Referenced source · 1 mention · first at 26:05
  Cited as the publication where Jacob Bodsgard wrote about scarcity marketing and examples such as Pappy Van Winkle and Disney Vault.
  They were going to be released and what a big deal that was. Yeah, that was a big one. And Bodsgard makes the point like by making them limited and available also only for a…
• Keith Richards' autobiography — Book · 3 mentions · first at 16:58
  Spectrum, you have like third-party websites and publications and organizations like the Spruce or Toy Insider or Toys, Tots, Pets, and More, and they actually evaluate the toys when they make their lists.
• Toy Insider — Book · 3 mentions · first at 16:58
  Spectrum, you have like third-party websites and publications and organizations like the Spruce or Toy Insider or Toys, Tots, Pets, and More, and they actually evaluate the toys when they make their lists.
• Toys, Tots, Pets, and More — Book · 2 mentions · first at 17:01
  Third-party websites and publications and organizations like the Spruce or Toy Insider or Toys, Tots, Pets, and More, and they actually evaluate the toys when they make their lists.
• Book of Ezekiel — Book · 2 mentions · first at 18:47
  The store and stand there and be what are we getting here? You could go to some website or USA Today or the Today Show or whoever is partnering with some of these trusted sites…
• What Makes a Must-Have Christmas Toy — Book · 1 mention · first at 0:25
  Is the first one, either the first or the second one on the list and the episode title is what makes a must have Christmas toy. If you want to know, listen in and find out. Happy holidays, everybody.
• USA Today — Book · 1 mention · first at 18:47
  The store and stand there and be what are we getting here? You could go to some website or USA Today or the Today Show or whoever is partnering with some of these trusted sites…
• Marketing Land — Book · 1 mention · first at 26:05
  Oh, I should say that's from Marketing Land. A guy named Jacob Bodsgard.
• Crazy Coupon Lady — Book · 1 mention · first at 41:32
  Toys, Tots, Pets, and More. That's just one. Amazon, The Today Show, Toy Insider, The Spruce, Crazy Coupon Lady, who had a post about toy flipping, Walmart, and New York…
• New York Magazine — Book · 1 mention · first at 41:38
  Insider, The Spruce, Crazy Coupon Lady, who had a post about toy flipping, Walmart, and New York Magazine. All of those lists we looked at, and we found ones that appeared on…
• MarketWatch — Book · 1 mention
• the guide to reselling toys at Christmas for extra money — Book · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

• Nintendo — Company · Industry example / case · 1 mention · first at 9:03
  Used as a key example of a company whose consoles were repeated must-have toys through the late 1980s/1990.
  Nintendos that dominated back in 1988, 1989 and 1990. Three years in a row, Nintendo had three different products that were like the must have Christmas toy.
• Spin Master — Company · Manufacturer (case study) · 1 mention · first at 27:23
  Manufacturer of Hatchimals; discussed in context of alleged scarcity marketing and production ramp-up decisions.
  Yeah. The people who made Hatchimals, Spin Master, Hatchimals were really hard to find in I think 2016, 17 and 18. and Spin Master was basically accused of purposefully using scarcity marketing.
• Target — Company · Retailer / example · 5 mentions · first at 16:20
  Mentioned as one of the major retailers that releases hot-toy lists early in the season (Target releases in early September).
  Toys are going to be hot this year. It's here's the hot list of holiday toys and Target released theirs at the beginning of September. I think Bullseye is the name of their mascot, dog mascot. It's Buzz McKenzie basically.
• Atari — Company · Historical example / industry player · 2 mentions · first at 6:00
  Referenced as the maker/platform for Pac-Man cartridge craze (1982) — used to illustrate earlier high-demand toy/games.
  And then just very quickly, I also want to point out that the biggest, most in- demand toy of my young life was the Atari Pac-Man cartridge.
• eBay — Company · Secondary market / reseller platform · 1 mention · first at 6:00
  Mentioned as a marketplace where empty-box Star Wars kits and flipped toys are resold, and where flippers list items at marked-up prices.
  And did you know that you can even buy these empty box kits on eBay now?
• Sears — Company · Retailer / historical example · 2 mentions · first at 13:33
  Mentioned as historical department store and part of the wishbook/catalog system that shaped how toys were discovered pre-internet.
  Right. They have scanned these entire wish books up to 1996, which everyone knows is the cutoff date for nostalgia. That's right. from the earliest days of 1933. And boy, let.
• Wishbook Web — Company · 3 mentions · first at 13:47
  Yeah. Of course. And you put this together and you introduced me to a website called Wishbook Web.
• How Stuff Works — Company · 2 mentions · first at 0:39
  Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works.
• Fisher-Price — Company · 2 mentions · first at 45:23
  Okay. and then the other one was the FisherPrice links, which are super cute, including the smooth move sloth. Hey, I'm down with Fisher Price.
• Ben Hur — Company · 1 mention · first at 4:30
  Sure. But that in just the same way that there were hit movies like The Godfather or like Ben Hur before Jaws came along, there wasn't such a thing as the summer blockbuster until Jaws came along and made the summer blockbuster a thing.
• Free to Be You and me — Company · 1 mention · first at 7:52
  Well, sure. No, there's nothing wrong with it. I grew up with William wants a doll on Free to Be You and me, so I get it.
• Golden Eye — Company · 1 mention · first at 9:26
  I don't know, man. N64 was pretty great with Golden Eye.
• Service Merchandise — Company · 1 mention · first at 13:36
  Service merchandise catalog was another big one for us.
• J C Penney — Company · 1 mention · first at 14:03
  No, no, it's Sears, J C Penney, and Montgomery Ward. And then I think there's the occasional What store is that here or there?
• Montgomery Ward — Company · 1 mention · first at 14:06
  No, no, it's Sears, J C Penney, and Montgomery Ward. And then I think there's the occasional What store is that here or there?
• Meyers — Company · 1 mention · first at 16:15
  That's actually kind of gone away. It's very tough to find a department store catalog. I believe Meyers still does that. I think they're kind of like a Midwestern Target.
• Restoration Hardware — Company · 1 mention · first at 16:26
  Well, now you get the Restoration Hardware Christmas catalog, right? or IKEA.
• University of Hertfordshire — Company · 1 mention · first at 22:44
  Kids that is the case they pummel children with ads. there was one study here University of Hertfordshire counted 100 ads in a threehour Saturday morning kids slot Christmas 100 in a three-hour slot.
• Spin Master — Company · 1 mention · first at 27:23
  Yeah. The people who made Hatchimals, Spin Master, Hatchimals were really hard to find in I think 2016, 17 and 18. and Spin Master was basically accused of purposefully using scarcity marketing.
• Holman and Finch — Company · 1 mention · first at 28:59
  Restaurants that, here in Atlanta, H Homeman and Finch had the Holman and Finch burger that Right.
• Campbell — Company · 1 mention · first at 29:34
  For whatever reason, Campbell might they might stop making their chicken noodle soup, right? Or in this case, it was soup that was on sale. So, who knows what the.
• Press Your Luck — Company · 1 mention · first at 38:26
  About. This is the like the Michael Larson approach to the holidays. The man who got no whammies on Press Your Luck.
• How to Train Your Dragon — Company · 1 mention · first at 42:42
  Yeah. And there's one that's from How to Train Your Dragon, Toothless Dragon.
• Playmobil — Company · 1 mention · first at 45:32
  Yeah. Do you remember Playmobil?
• IKEA — Company · 1 mention
• Investopedia — Company · 1 mention
• Jaws — Company · 1 mention
• Ker — Company · 1 mention
• Lego — Company · 1 mention
• Marketing Land (site) — Company · 1 mention
• MarketWatch (site) — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

• Hatchimals — Product · Case study / contemporary must-have toy · 8 mentions · first at 10:42
  Used as a modern example (2016–2018) of intense demand and alleged scarcity marketing by manufacturer Spin Master.
• Bloom Dolls — Product · Contemporary example / predicted hot toy · 3 mentions · first at 41:52
  Identified by the hosts as appearing on many lists this season and likely to be a top toy (dolls that 'bloom' when water is added).
• Fingerlings — Product · Case study / contemporary must-have toy · 2 mentions · first at 27:54
  Mentioned as another recent viral toy (small animatronic creature) with strong demand; manufacturer ramped up production and logistics to meet demand.
  People were That's that's BS. You can totally ramp up production pretty fast. another must-have toy was fingerlings. Remember them from like last year, the year before?
• Game Boy — Product · Historical example / must-have product · 1 mention · first at 9:00
  Mentioned as one of Nintendo's must-have products (portable console) that dominated Christmas lists in late 1980s.
  Nintendos that dominated back in 1988, 1989 and 1990. Three years in a row, Nintendo had three different products that were like the must have Christmas toy.
• LOL Surprise — Product · Contemporary example / trend example · 3 mentions · first at 43:05
  Cited as part of the unboxing trend and appearing on current hot-toy lists.
  Like a whole brand. and a lot of these, including Bloom Dolls and LOL Surprise, they tap into like this whole trend of unboxing. Do you remember when we talked about unboxing on YouTube where like people open toys?
• Super Nintendo — Product · Historical example / must-have product · 1 mention · first at 9:16
  Cited as possibly the best gaming system of its era and part of Nintendo's multi-year dominance of holiday must-have toys.
  The Game Boy huger. It felt like Mhm. and then of course in 1990, possibly the best game gaming system of all time, if you look at just relative to the time, the Super Nintendo console.
• Holtman Finch burger — Product · Local scarcity example · 1 mention · first at 28:59
  Used as an example of localized scarcity events (limited-availability item causing long lines) to illustrate psychological drivers of scarce items.
  Restaurants that, here in Atlanta, H Homeman and Finch had the Holman and Finch burger that Right.
• Hatchimals — Product · 8 mentions · first at 10:42
  Like I haven't read about any violence from Hatchimals, but from 2016 to 2018, they were the, if not one of the top must have toys of the year.
• Cabbage Patch Kid — Product · 4 mentions · first at 1:55
  You didn't have a Cabbage Patch Kid, did you?
• fingerlings — Product · 2 mentions · first at 27:54
  Can totally ramp up production pretty fast. another must-have toy was fingerlings. Remember them from like last year, the year before?
• LOL Surprise — Product · 2 mentions · first at 43:05
  There's also LOL Surprise. Have you heard of that?
• Little People — Product · 1 mention · first at 2:06
  Well, we bought my sister one of the very first Little People is what they were called before they were Cabbage Patch Kids.
• Star Wars figures — Product · 1 mention · first at 3:45
  Which was basically an empty box that said at some point in the future you will get Star Wars figures instead of this empty box.
• Mr. Potato Head — Product · 1 mention · first at 3:54
  Yeah. So that was a thing all the way back in 1952. Mr. Potato Head was a hot toy that year. Robert the Robot was a hot toy in 1954. And when you say hot toys, it's tough to overstate that.
• Robert the Robot — Product · 1 mention · first at 3:57
  Yeah. So that was a thing all the way back in 1952. Mr. Potato Head was a hot toy that year. Robert the Robot was a hot toy in 1954. And when you say hot toys, it's tough to overstate that.
• Atari Pac-Man cartridge — Product · 1 mention · first at 6:14
  Want to point out that the biggest, most in- demand toy of my young life was the Atari Pac-Man cartridge.
• Super Nintendo console — Product · 1 mention · first at 9:21
  Possibly the best game gaming system of all time, if you look at just relative to the time, the Super Nintendo console.
• Tamagotchi — Product · 1 mention · first at 11:48
  Raise it and like give it attention and everything. It's a bit like the Tamagotchi, but like an animatronic pet.
• Sears Wishbook — Product · 1 mention · first at 13:33
  And whatever your catalog was. The Sears Wishbook is certainly one.
• Service merchandise catalog — Product · 1 mention · first at 13:36
  Service merchandise catalog was another big one for us.
• Montgomery Wards catalog — Product · 1 mention · first at 13:39
  Yeah. There's a Montgomery Wards catalog.
• Restoration Hardware Christmas catalog — Product · 1 mention · first at 16:26
  Well, now you get the Restoration Hardware Christmas catalog, right? or IKEA.
• Starbucks card — Product · 1 mention · first at 37:40
  Look out for, they'll know when these new supplies are coming in. Maybe slip them a Starbucks card or something like that with 10 bucks on it as a thank you, but be sure to deduct that from your bottom line.
• Bloom doll — Product · 1 mention · first at 41:52
  One, appeared on basically every single list that we saw. Yeah, this one, the Bloom doll, B L U M E.
• Toothless Dragon — Product · 1 mention · first at 42:44
  Yeah. And there's one that's from How to Train Your Dragon, Toothless Dragon.
• Ryan's World — Product · 1 mention · first at 43:57
  Fashion and all that, but they also have Surprise. And there's also a kid named Ryan's World. I don't think that's his last name, but that's his YouTube channel. And guarantee…
• Peppa Pig — Product · 1 mention · first at 44:27
  Yeah, it was the Yeah, remember she was like Peppa Pig.
• Lego make your own movie kit — Product · 1 mention · first at 44:43
  And this Lego make your own movie kit looks pretty cool to me.
• FisherPrice links — Product · 1 mention · first at 45:23
  Okay. and then the other one was the FisherPrice links, which are super cute, including the smooth move sloth. Hey, I'm down with Fisher Price.
• smooth move sloth — Product · 1 mention · first at 45:25
  Okay. and then the other one was the FisherPrice links, which are super cute, including the smooth move sloth. Hey, I'm down with Fisher Price.
• iHeart Radio app — Product · 1 mention · first at 49:06
  IHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
• Barbie dream plane — Product · 1 mention
• Chia Pet — Product · 1 mention
• IKEA catalog — Product · 1 mention
• N64 — Product · 1 mention
• Pappy Van Winkle whiskey — Product · 1 mention
• Star Wars early bird certificate package — Product · 1 mention
• Tickle Me Elmo — Product · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

• Disney Vault — Concept · Scarcity marketing example · 1 mention · first at 26:10
  Cited as an example of deliberate time-limited availability used to create demand and collector behavior.
  Wrote an article on Marketing Land where he cited that and the Disney Vault is really good examples.
• Heroic price-scarcity marketing — Concept · 6 mentions · first at 25:01
  Kind of primed to buy because it's the holiday season. We're in a good mood. But when you add that scarcity marketing, it ramps it up to a totally different level. And when you…
• scarcity marketing — Concept · 5 mentions · first at 25:01
  Kind of primed to buy because it's the holiday season. We're in a good mood. But when you add that scarcity marketing, it ramps it up to a totally different level. And when you…
• toy flippers — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 31:24
  And then we come back and talk about the worst people, toy flippers, right after this.
• unboxing — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 43:21
  These, including Bloom Dolls and LOL Surprise, they tap into like this whole trend of unboxing. Do you remember when we talked about unboxing on YouTube where like people open toys?
• fear of missing out — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 25:37
  And the reason why it all comes down to scarcity marketing and the idea that we have a fear of missing out, a fear of social embarrassment, a fear of our kids not loving us as…
• summer blockbuster — Concept · 1 mention · first at 4:35
  There were hit movies like The Godfather or like Ben Hur before Jaws came along, there wasn't such a thing as the summer blockbuster until Jaws came along and made the summer blockbuster a thing.
• gender binary — Concept · 1 mention · first at 7:35
  Yeah. I ended up taking his head off and giving him a mohawk as I grew older. But because not to be too like gender binary here, but I didn't know a lot of boys that wanted the Cabbage Patch Kid.
• Saturday morning cartoon commercials — Concept · 1 mention · first at 13:26
  That is correct. And you learned what you wanted if you were a kid from two things. Saturday morning cartoon commercials.
• sponsored — Concept · 1 mention · first at 21:51
  Up something on a major retailer website, those first few things are sponsored and they say sponsored in little letters.
• holiday advertising — Concept · 1 mention · first at 24:12
  Anything wrong with it. It's just that's just basic marketing and advertising 101 when it comes to holiday advertising.
• Disney Vault — Concept · 1 mention · first at 26:10
  Wrote an article on Marketing Land where he cited that and the Disney Vault is really good examples.
• cognitive bias — Concept · 1 mention · first at 29:58
  Missing out or fearful of your kid not loving you is isn't enough, there's a whole other cognitive bias of being a have not of being left out in the co which I guess is a fear…
• ticket scalpers — Concept · 1 mention · first at 32:42
  Yeah, I'm not into it. I feel the same way about ticket scalpers.
• buzz marketing — Concept · 1 mention · first at 40:30
  Usually, it has to do with some sort some combination of advertising and buzz marketing as long or as well as scarcity. The flippers get involved. I think, and I want to back…
• protohomo sapien — Concept · 1 mention · first at 47:29
  Give a hearty laugh whenever I steal your characters tuk the wise protohomo sapien and Urg, the folly prone genetic defect to elucidate points about the evolution of early humans. I knew you wouldn't mind my poaching that.
• evolution of early humans — Concept · 1 mention · first at 47:36
  Protohomo sapien and Urg, the folly prone genetic defect to elucidate points about the evolution of early humans. I knew you wouldn't mind my poaching that.
• bots — Concept · 1 mention
• CAPTCHA — Concept · 1 mention
• self-fulfilling prophecy — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

• Wishbook Web — Place · Research resource / nostalgia archive · 4 mentions · first at 13:44
  Referenced as an online archive that has scanned department store holiday catalogs (Sears, J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward) and is useful for researching historical toy advertising.
  Right. They have scanned these entire wish books up to 1996, which everyone knows is the cutoff date for nostalgia. That's right. from the earliest days of 1933. And boy, let.
• Sears Wishbook — Place · Historical catalog example · 1 mention · first at 13:33
  Used as an example of how past generations discovered toys via department store catalogs; preserved on Wishbook Web.
  And whatever your catalog was. The Sears Wishbook is certainly one.
• Montgomery Ward — Place · Catalog / retailer example · 3 mentions · first at 13:39
  Referenced alongside Sears and J.C. Penney as catalog sources kids used to find holiday toys.
  Right. They have scanned these entire wish books up to 1996, which everyone knows is the cutoff date for nostalgia. That's right. from the earliest days of 1933. And boy, let.
• JC Penney — Place · Catalog / retailer example · 2 mentions · first at 14:03
  Mentioned as one of the department store catalogs scanned on Wishbook Web and as part of historical toy discovery channels.
  No, no, it's Sears, J C Penney, and Montgomery Ward. And then I think there's the occasional What store is that here or there?
• Helen, Georgia — Place · 1 mention · first at 2:12
  That's right. in Helen, Georgia when they were handmade by Xavier Roberts, who I recently learned stole that idea from a woman.
• Charleston, West Virginia — Place · 1 mention · first at 6:45
  Things turned violent? Or before you answer, in addition to that, did a department store manager in Charleston, West Virginia, have to arm himself with a baseball bat to defend…

Media & podcasts

• Cabbage Patch Kids — Character · Case study / Historical example · 6 mentions · first at 2:10
  Presented as the canonical early example (1983) of a 'must-have' Christmas toy that generated scarcity, media buzz, and sometimes violence.
• Star Wars — Character · Historical example / case · 5 mentions · first at 3:32
  Referenced as an earlier major toy phenomenon (early bird certificate/empty box) that drove huge demand and is used to argue about earlier must-have toys.
• Wishbook Web — Media · Research resource / nostalgia archive · 4 mentions · first at 13:44
  Referenced as an online archive that has scanned department store holiday catalogs (Sears, J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward) and is useful for researching historical toy advertising.
  Right. They have scanned these entire wish books up to 1996, which everyone knows is the cutoff date for nostalgia. That's right. from the earliest days of 1933. And boy, let.
• Pac-Man — Character · Historical example · 1 mention · first at 6:14
  Referenced as the title driving Atari cartridge demand in 1982.
  Want to point out that the biggest, most in- demand toy of my young life was the Atari Pac-Man cartridge.
• Mr. Potato Head — Character · Historical example · 1 mention · first at 3:48
  Mentioned as a hot toy in 1952 to illustrate earlier toy crazes pre-dating Cabbage Patch Kids.
  One of the great marketing gems of all time.
• Robert the Robot — Character · Historical example · 1 mention · first at 3:57
  Cited as a big popular toy in 1954 to show that popular toys existed long before the 'must-have' framing.
  Like Robert the robot had t-shirts in the 50s. I didn't even know people wore t-shirts in the 50s. Yeah, he was in a movie. like there was these were big deal toys. But my premise.
• Jaws — Character · 1 mention · first at 4:35
  There were hit movies like The Godfather or like Ben Hur before Jaws came along, there wasn't such a thing as the summer blockbuster until Jaws came along and made the summer blockbuster a thing.

Sponsors

• Amazon — Company · Retailer / example of paid list placement · 7 mentions · first at 19:18
  Discussed as charging manufacturers/retailers to be considered for hot-toy lists and as generating significant revenue from those placements.
• Wal-Mart — Company · Retailer / example of paid placement · 6 mentions · first at 10:24
  Referenced as charging for placement on buyer picks lists and as a retailer where violence and trampling incidents have occurred during toy crazes.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:01 Happy holidays everybody. This is Chuck here with uh one of our episodes for our stuff you should know 12 days of Christmas toys playlist. We decided to put this together. Thought it'd be a fun little holiday idea to kind of gather up some of our toy ccentric episodes and release them this December all packaged up. So, uh here we are with I think this is the first one, either the first or the second one on the list and the episode title is what makes a must have Christmas toy. If you want to know, listen in and find out. Happy holidays, everybody.

0:38 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works.

0:47 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there. There's Jerry over there. And this is W. Nope.

0:56 Early Christmas editionish. Yeah, we're kicking it off early like the rest of re the retail world.

1:04 Do you uh Yeah, man. This year you could find Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas stuff in stores at the same time.

1:12 Like it was just the most normal thing in the world. Yeah. But um you don't follow me on Twitter, and you should.

1:18 I'm not on Twitter. Well, that's I'm saying you should get on Twitter to follow me.

1:22 No, thank you. But at 7:30 in the morning on November 1st, the day after Halloween, I tweeted, "Merry Christmas."

1:31 I got a lot of hate back for it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. What do you do on Twitter? Do you just poke people like that?

1:37 Yeah, pretty much. Just troll. I got you. Yeah. Uh, well, that was my plug for Twitter.

1:44 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Here we go. So, uh, let's see. Back in 1983, Chuck, you were 12. Okay. I was seven.

1:54 Mhm. Um, you didn't have a Cabbage Patch Kid, did you? Well, there's a story there if you really want to know.

2:01 I think you've told it before, but let's have it. Well, we bought uh my sister one of the very first uh Little People is what they were called

2:10 before they were Cabbage Patch Kids. That's right. in uh Helen, Georgia when they were handmade by Xavier Roberts, who I recently learned stole that idea from a woman.

2:23 And uh took it as his own and made millions of dollars off of her idea. Yeah. I mean, I wanted to maybe we'll do a short stuff about that. I wanted to do a full length episode,

2:33 but we I mean, we definitely talked about that because I think we have talked about like must have toys of the past in in maybe last year's or the year before's Christmas edition.

2:41 Yeah. And we had she got this doll. Uh it name was Chuck. Um which was kind of funny cuz that's my name.

2:47 That's so funny. And uh it was a big deal. I think it was like the number 70 something or 80 something made. And now it's worth a lot of money.

2:54 Does she still have it? Uh-huh. Oh, that's great. Um and we'll finish with Cabbage Patch Kids and then I'll take issue with you. So go ahead.

3:04 Okay. I know what you're going to take issue with. Oh, I don't know if you do know, but go ahead.

3:07 But let me So let me let me let me start. All right. So, back in 1983, Cabbage Patch Kids were like the must-have toy of the Christmas season

3:18 for sure. And from what I can tell, they were the first must-have Christmas toy ever. Now, that's not to say there weren't extraordinarily popular toys at around Christmas time before 1983. Star Wars very famously offered their early bird certificate package. Mhm.

3:40 which was basically an empty box that said at some point in the future you will get Star Wars figures instead of this empty box.

3:48 One of the great great marketing gems of all time. Yeah. So that was a thing all the way back in 1952. Mr. Potato Head was a hot toy that year. Robert the Robot was a hot toy in 1954. And when you say hot toys, it's tough to to overstate that. Like Robert the robot had t-shirts in the 50s. I didn't even know people wore t-shirts in the 50s. Yeah,

4:13 he was in a movie. Um like there was these were big deal toys. But my premise is this. This is my thesis. Okay, this is my own. So I'll take the hit if it's wrong.

4:24 Sure. But that in just the same way that there were hit movies like The Godfather or like Ben Hur before Jaws came along, there wasn't such a thing as the summer blockbuster until Jaws came along and made the summer blockbuster a thing.

4:42 Mhm. There wasn't such a thing as the must-have toy of Christmas until the Cabbage Patch Kid came along and made that a thing.

4:52 Okay. So, what issue are you going to take? I can't take it any longer. You're driving me crazy.

4:57 Well, I don't think it was I don't think it was Cabbage Patch Kids that was the must uh have toy. The The first must have toy. That's what I take issue with.

5:06 What was the first? Well, I don't know. I mean, I'm just speaking for my own lifespan and I definitely think Star Wars counts because if you can sell an empty box to a kid for Christmas

5:18 Uhhuh. then that that's pretty strong position as a mustave thing. And by the way, if you're listening, the reason they sold empty boxes is because

5:26 they didn't know Star Wars was going to be a big thing. So Ker didn't have as many of these made uh in the run-up to the film release pre Christmas. Uh so they got caught with their pants down and they realized that there was a big demand, a huge demand.

5:40 Okay. They sold like 40 million of these. No, 40 million boxes. I'm trying to Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

5:48 Okay. I don't know. 40 million Star Wars toys. Okay. At that in inside of a year.

5:54 So, okay. Yeah, I'm not surprised to hear that. And did you know that you can even buy these uh empty box kits on eBay now?

6:02 Oh, yeah. I'm sure I saw one listed for 1500 bucks. I'm not at all surprised. Uh and then just very quickly, I also want to point out that the biggest, most in- demand toy of my young life

6:14 was the Atari Pac-Man cartridge. Oh boy. That was a 1982. Okay. Okay, that sold 7 million cartridges.

6:21 Okay, great. Great. The numbers don't lie. That's a big big number. 7 million, 40 million. You can toss big numbers out all day long. But let me ask you this,

6:30 okay? For that empty box of Star Wars, for that Atari Pac-Man cartridge, did a woman have her leg broken because a crowd trying to get their hands on those things turned violent? Or before you answer, in addition to that, did a department store manager in Charleston, West Virginia, have to arm himself with a baseball bat to defend himself from his very customers who are trying to get to the Star Wars empty box or the Atari cartridge? I would guess that the answer is no.

6:58 Well, I think human behaviors have changed over the years. I don't know. from 1982 to 1983.

7:07 Well, I I I bet I I guarantee I could find one violent incident about the Atari cartridge.

7:11 I'll bet you couldn't. Well, you know, there wasn't then because there was they they met the demand.

7:17 Okay. So, that's a big part of it, too, right? So, there have been Well, let's just move on from this. The Cabbage Patch Cabbage Patch Kids, if not were the first, which they were.

7:26 Did you have one? Yeah. Yeah. Weber Dino. You had a Cabbage Patch Kid? Yeah. I ended up taking his head off and giving him a mohawk as I grew older. But

7:35 because not to be too like gender binary here, but I I didn't know a lot of boys that wanted the Cabbage Patch Kid.

7:44 What? I've I've always uh broken the mold, Chuck. Well, sure. No, I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. I I grew up with William wants a doll on Free to Be You and me, so I get it.

7:55 But that's why I just don't know. I think a must-have uh Christmas toy would be one that everybody wants.

8:01 Yeah. I as far as I knew, everybody wanted a Cabbage Patch kid. All right, we'll just put this one to bed.

8:08 Okay. Like a Cabbage Patch Kid with a mohawk that you adopted. Yep. So, um Right. Uh well, that was a big thing. Like there was there were some hallmarks to the idea of a mustave toy that were surrounding Cabbage Patch Kids. Violence is one,

8:23 right? Um there was a lot of buzz that was picked up by the media and one of the ways that that was generated was by um I think Kico who owned Cabbage Patch Kids at the time sent these dolls directly to reporters. That was a big one. Um and the fact that there was not enough supply to meet the demand. These things kind of came together to make Cabbage Patch Kids a must have Christmas toy. And this has been carried on as a tradition ever since then. Ever since that very very first time in 1983 with Cabbage Patch Kids, uh there were Nintendos that dominated back in 1988, uh 1989 and 1990. Three years in a row, Nintendo had three different products that were like the must have Christmas toy.

9:07 Oh yeah. Um that first game console, huge. Oh dude. The Game Boy huger. It felt like

9:13 Mhm. Uh, and then of course in 1990, possibly the best game gaming system of all time, if you look at just relative to the time, uh, the Super Nintendo console.

9:24 I don't know, man. N64 was pretty great with Golden Eye. Oh god, N64 was great.

9:29 Yeah, with Golden Eye, I mean, like it would have been, you know, fine on its own, but the fact that Golden Eye existed was the thing that made N64 to me.

9:38 That game blew my mind. Um, yeah, it was great. Especially the battle royale where you could play your friends. Oh man, that was fun.

9:45 Yeah, we called it hunt and chase. Yeah, I I used to get so mad. Yeah, in those. Like that's the only time I ever got mad playing video games cuz I don't do that thing where you play online and you can, you know, you can exact revenge on people. So I I did not take it well when my friend snuck up behind me and shot me in the head.

10:01 Right. Yeah, that was always a bummer. Uh what about Tickle Memo? That was a big one. Thanks to Rosie O'Donnell.

10:08 I was a little old for that. Oh, really? I was in my mid20s. Oh, I had one. Oh, yeah. Well, you were in late high school.

10:17 Not really. This was 1996. This was post high school even. But the this was such a craze that there was that um characteristic violence where a Walmart employee was trampled while he was trying to restock the um display um late at night, I believe. But he had a pulled hamstring, injuries to his back, his jaw, his knee, a broken rib, a concussion. Um, and it continues on. Like I haven't read about any violence from Hatchimals, but from 2016 to 2018, they were the, if not one of the top um, must have toys of the year.

10:51 I hate those things. Hatchimals. Mhm. How come? Because you have to put it in a in a dish or a bowl that you eat out of and you have to leave it there and leave it there and leave it there and then it hatches into a garbage toy. Real. Oh, so my experience is that it's they're pretty they're good.

11:12 Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, you like your Hatchimal? Yeah. Are you talking is it like animatronic?

11:20 Huh? Is it animatronic? I'm talking about Hatchimals. Yeah. It's a So, okay. So, I don't know anything about the dish. I just My experience is from my niece and I don't remember any dish.

11:30 Oh, wait. This isn't the Are we talking about two different things? This is the thing you put in water.

11:34 No, no, no. you put in water, you'll electrocute yourself when you touch it. Okay, maybe I'm thinking of something else.

11:40 This is like an animatronic thing that hatches from an egg, but like it you have to like teach it and train it and raise it and like give it attention and everything. It's a bit like the Tamagotchi, but like an animatronic pet.

11:51 Oh, I got you. No, I'm thinking of the thing that you It's an egg that you put in water and after a few days it hatches into a garbage toy.

11:58 Yeah. No, that's that's not this. Gotcha. Hatchimals are much different. Okay. So, so there's this tradition of a must-have Christmas toy. Um, and you can find all you want about them every year because they're everywhere all the time and the media reports on this kind of stuff and they're on TV and there's ads and there's like social media stuff now. But there's like a really big question that doesn't have a lot of press associated with it and certainly no studies or anything that I could find, but there's a question, Chuck, like how does a toy become a must-have Christmas toy?

12:32 Well, let's take a break and we'll get to the bottom of it right after this. That was quite a setup, huh?

13:00 I think so. So, back in the day when you were shopping for Christmas, if you were a kid or a parent, it didn't matter, right? You knew exactly what to do.

13:10 You knew exactly how to do it. There was no no frrills, no nothing. It was all just holiday joy and the the goodness of the the Christmas holiday season.

13:19 That's right. That is correct. And you learned what you wanted if you were a kid from two things. Saturday morning cartoon commercials.

13:29 Mhm. And uh whatever your catalog was. The Sears Wishbook is certainly one. Yeah.

13:36 Service merchandise catalog was another big one for us. Yeah. There's a Montgomery Wards catalog.

13:41 Yeah. Of course. And um you put this together and you introduced me to a website called Wishbook Web.

13:50 Mhm. That might as well be called um timesuck.com. Yeah, it's pretty great, isn't it?

13:57 Because someone has gone through and scanned uh is it just Sears wishbooks? No, no, it's Sears, J C Penney, and Montgomery Ward. And then I think there's the occasional What store is that here or there?

14:11 Right. They have scanned these entire wish books up to 1996, which everyone knows is the cutoff date for nostalgia. That's right. Uh, from the earliest days of 1933. And boy, let me tell you, dude,

14:26 and I know you know this because you've done it. If you go through and spend a few minutes clicking through these things in the years where you were like 6 to 12

14:34 Mhm. waves of nostal nostalgia wash over you like like John Hodgejman would succumb to these waves.

14:42 Yeah, I know. It's amazing. I remember some specific pictures. I remembered the I mean the NFL section alone brought tears to my eyes and I forgot how much they hyped football back then.

14:56 You just can't stop crying. It was crazy. The the clothes, the uh alarm clocks, the clock radios, the the tech section. Um it was just it was off the charts for me looking through this. I almost did nothing else today.

15:09 Yeah, I know it is. Wishbook web is pretty awesome. Like somebody went through and scanned every single page of these several hundred page each catalogues for decades worth of cataloges. It is it is God's work.

15:23 And just to get laughs by like seeing the the the two four-year-olds posing in bathroes like it's really really funny,

15:33 right? One of them's got like a pipe that blows bubbles. Oh my god, this is just amazing. What a great website. So, so Wishbook Web has kind of preserved how you used to figure out what you wanted for Christmas, which was you go through these wishbooks or these cataloges or whatever, and then you tell your parents, you doggeear them, maybe drop some hints. It was the correct way. The 21st century has a kind of an updated version of that, but it still kind of follows the same general contours, right? where there are lists still and like cataloges, but now it's not just department stores that have like the market cornered on them. Like that's actually kind of gone away. It's very tough to find a department store catalog. I believe Meyers still does that. I think they're kind of like a Midwestern Target.

16:21 Oh, really? Yeah. And they have a toy catalog that they put out still, I believe, to this year.

16:26 Well, now you get the Restoration Hardware Christmas catalog, right? or IKEA. Yeah.

16:32 But they but there's lists everywhere and it seems like every retailer has one or all the major retailers have one and depending on where it's coming from, it's some are more trustworthy or above the boards or or objective than others when saying like these are the must-have toys, right? Like on on one end of the spectrum, you have um like third-party websites and publications and organizations like the Spruce or Toy Insider or Toys, Tots, Pets, and More, and they actually evaluate the toys when they make their lists.

17:07 Yeah. I mean, these it's just different now. And I don't think it's nostalgia like thinking things were better back then but

17:14 it was it seemed easier and better to let a kid sift through a a catalog and pick out stuff than I guess what are you supposed to do today? Like sit down with your kid at one of these websites and at look at the top 20 hot toys and say, "What do you want?" Like I don't I don't know how it works these days.

17:32 I don't know. Maybe instead of like dogearing the pages, you send your parents links.

17:38 I'm sure you do, actually. you know. Yeah. But I mean, if your kids are too young to be on the internet, I'm not sure how to do it. Cuz I could hand my four-year-old a catalog and say, "Pick out some stuff." It'd be great,

17:49 right? But I'm not going to say, "Hey, just log on to the spruce and go uh scroll down until you find something you like,

17:56 right? Stay out of their parents section. What I mean, what do you do? You have a You literally have a kid, Chuck. What do you do?"

18:05 I I don't know. I mean, we buy we just buy things that we think she might like. Um,

18:10 so there's like a whole world out there of like lists and websites that show toys and stuff that she's unaware of.

18:18 Oh, sure. Oh, wow. She's got a big surprise ahead of her, I guess. So, that's great. I'm excited for her, actually.

18:26 Yeah. But, I mean, you definitely feel like you're sort of stabbing in the dark as to like I mean, a parent can go through and look at those lists.

18:34 Mhm. But, you know, kill me. Well, a lot of people are excited about that kind of thing. They're like, "Good. This is Yeah, I don't have to like go to the store and stand there and be like, what are we getting here?" You could go to some website or USA Today or the Today Show or whoever is partnering with some of these trusted sites like Toys to Tots, Pets, and More or Toy Insider. And like they kind of take a lot of the guesswork out of you. They're basically saying these are what experts are saying your kid is going to want. If you go buy this, you will score a home run with your kid.

19:08 Yeah. I think my problem is I don't know what is bought and what is real reviews because as you have dug up and I didn't even know this. Of course they do this. Um if you go on Amazon they, you know, you can spend 2 million bucks as a retailer to be on their you know on their top list or whatever.

19:28 So okay. Yes. And I what I saw though was that they you spend that money to nominate them to nominate your toy for their consideration to include on the list

19:39 just for a nomination. I don't know how the process works, but yeah, I saw I saw like the headlines say you pay 2 million for a slot, but if you read the finer print, it's saying you pay 2 million for them to even consider it. And then I guess I don't know how they curate it. They actually kind of keep a a closed lid on it, but it generated like $120 million in revenue for Amazon just to be on their list of hot toys for the year.

20:05 Walmart, they charge 10 grand a month per toy to be on their buyer picks toy list.

20:12 Mhm. And uh like you point out here, they Walmart starts their list in August. And you've got to wonder, is that because they're making 10 grand a pop,

20:22 right, off of the stuff per month? Yeah. Yeah. They released theirs in late August before Labor Day even. And like this isn't like a hey, we think these toys are going to be hot this year. It's here's the hot list of holiday toys

20:36 and Target released theirs at the beginning of September. Um, I think Bullseye is the name of their mascot, dog mascot. It's Buzz McKenzie basically.

20:45 Yeah, Bully Bullseye. Um, and I couldn't see if they charge for placement or how they compile it or anything like that, which actually makes me suspect that they don't because there's plenty of ink about Amazon and Walmart's lists and how they charge for them. And the fact that there's not one for Target makes me think

21:00 either they're really keeping a lid on it or else um they actually don't charge for that. But so there's there's kind of two lists where if you're a parent, you need to ask Yeah. You need to ask dogs and dog people and cat people. That's right. you you need to ask where is this list coming from? And if it's coming from a third-party site, go look up the third party site and they will tell you in their like about us section how they determine what toys are what. And if you really want to get that information, that's fine. But even if Amazon or Walmart or even if Target charges for placement on their lists, just the very fact that those things are on their lists is going to make them among the hot toys of the season. So, it's like a self-fulfilling or self-paying prophecy.

21:44 Yeah. I mean, I guess anytime you look up something on a major retailer website, those first few things are sponsored and they say sponsored in little letters.

21:55 Oh, sometimes they don't. Oh, really? Mhm. Yeah. I mean, sometimes it's kind of hard to discern uh whether or not you're looking at the the real top thing or the sponsored thing,

22:04 right? And I think like with the gift list in particular, I don't believe that they say that these are sponsored. I think it's just like here's the hot list according to Amazon.

22:13 Well, let's talk a bit about marketing in general around the holidays. Mhm. Um that you know it's a it's a science in a way and they have found out through science that um happy people buy more. Uh you are not everyone's happy around the holidays but they definitely as marketers play on the idea that you are happier around the holidays and so you should be in the buying spirit. Uh definitely when you're talking about kids that is the case they pummel children with ads. Uh there was one study here uh University of Hertfordshire counted 100 ads in a threehour Saturday morning kids uh slot Christmas

22:55 100 in a three-hour slot. That's a lot of ads. It is. Um and then of course you know children are on more than one screen these days. So, they're also getting ads on, you know, when they're watching YouTube or whatever. Um, or just on kids websites. There's ads everywhere. I can't remember what episode we really kind of dove into that advertising to children.

23:17 Oh, man. I think it was about advertising for children. Like, must have that was the sole, you know, goal.

23:23 So, so the the idea is that just just the holiday season itself puts most of us in a pretty good mood. and advertisers say, "Oh, well, if we release ads that are holiday themed, we'll be able to kind of tap into that goodwill and good mood and um make you nostalgic or or feel good about things." And so um by doing that, we'll be able to kind of tie our b our brand or our product to that holiday um that holiday sensation, and you'll say, "Oh, I do want to go buy that because it makes me think of uh being a kid at Christmas time." That's really basic stuff. Um I I mean like that's everywhere. You can't get away from that in the holiday season. And there's not even necessarily anything wrong with it. It's just that's just basic marketing and advertising 101 when it comes to holiday advertising.

24:14 Yeah. And the other thing we mentioned earlier uh in terms of marketing and this is also marketing 101 is about scarcity. Uh if you have a toy that there's a limited amount of, that is when you're going to find people trampling each other uh to get there because people are motivated by fear. And if you know that a toy is a mustave and there aren't many of them and they're going on sale at a certain time, it is frightening what a parent, some parents might do to secure that toy.

24:44 Yes. So this is finally we've reached the key ingredient, right? You've got lists of toys that are promoted and advertised and maybe even show up with their own articles in the media. Then you have the fact that we're already kind of primed to to buy because it's the holiday season. We're in a good mood. But when you add that scarcity marketing, it ramps it up to a totally different level. And when you have a must-have toy that is hard to find, like you said, people will do very crazy, violent, mean stuff to get it. And there's a lot of reasons why. Even if you're not willing to like throw an elbow to get a toy, you might still be willing to camp out at 4:00 a.m. waiting for, you know, a 24-hour retailer to restock um their their supply of this so you can buy it. That's unusual behavior.

25:33 And the reason why it all comes down to scarcity marketing and the idea that we have a fear of missing out, a fear of social embarrassment, a fear of our kids not loving us as much as they could had we gotten them this toy. And that all of these things, the scarcity marketing is the real driver that kind of hypercharges must have toy frenzy.

25:57 Yeah. And it's not, you know, just toys. You've seen everything from um you make a great point about Papy Van Winkle whiskey.

26:04 Oh, I should say that's from uh Marketing Land. A guy named Jacob Bodsgard. Oh, yeah.

26:08 Wrote an article on Marketing Land where he cited that and the Disney Vault is really good examples.

26:13 Yeah, Disney Vault is another great one. Um they were very famous for not just saying like here's all the movies we've ever made

26:21 that you can buy on VHS all in one big package. uh they would release them every every now and then and you know you had a limited time to get them and uh I wasn't really hipped all this but uh my dad uh and his wife were way into the Disney stuff

26:36 and you know they were adamant about making sure they filled out the entire collection and really kept up with when they were going to be released and what a big deal that was. Yeah, that was a big one. And um Bodsgard makes the point like by making them limited and available also only for a limited time with years sometimes a decade in between times when you can buy these things. It creates this like frenzy to go buy them and it also makes them like a treasured part of that person's home. You know what I mean?

27:08 Yeah. And you can also fake out the public a little bit and uh mislead them on the scarcity. like you might have a lot of this stuff and just kind of lead the public to believe like no, you better go get one right now

27:19 because they may not be around next week. Yeah. The people who made Hatchimals, Spin Master,

27:25 um Hatchimals were really hard to find in I think 2016, 17 and 18. Um and Spin Master was basically accused of purposefully using scarcity marketing. And for their part, they said, "Hey, we were totally caught off guard three years in a row by the the um you know, the the popularity of Hatchimals." Other people were like, "That's that's BS. You can totally ramp up production pretty fast." Um, another must-have toy was fingerlings. Remember them from like last year, the year before?

27:57 Yeah. They were like little monkeys or sloths or dragons or whatever that would hang on to your finger and they were little finger- sized robots that would like blink and blow kisses and do all sorts of cute stuff.

28:09 Terrifying. They weren't they were cute instead of uncanny cuz they weren't kind of

28:13 the words finger- sized robots together sound, right? They would cut your throat while you slept. Um, but they they were they were caught unaware. Even though they really tried hard to make them hit through social media, they were still surprised when it actually happened. But they ramped up production. They brought a third factory in China online. They went from shipping via cargo boat to air transport to get supplies here faster. And they were able to ramp up and and meet demand pretty quickly. So the idea that Hatchimals just couldn't possibly do that really smelled to a lot of people like they were purposefully using scarcity marketing.

28:49 Yeah, scarcity. I mean, it's an interesting concept because you see it everywhere. You know, they they have restaurants that, you know, here in Atlanta, H Homeman and Finch had the Holman and Finch burger that

29:00 Right. like one day a week like we'll sell a hundred of them starting at 10 p.m. on this night.

29:06 Yeah. And then everyone's like, "Oh my god, what is in that burger?" People would line up on the block.

29:11 Yeah. Yeah. Or uh this is a nice little tidbit here that you dug up about uh supermarket experiments.

29:19 Yeah. That's from a a article from Market Watch by Mark Elwood. He found that one.

29:23 It's amazing. Even putting up a sign for soup that says limit 12 per person will make people to be like, "Oh, I should I should probably buy 12 of these,

29:33 right?" For whatever reason, Campbell might they might stop making their chicken noodle soup,

29:39 right? Or in this case, it was soup that was on sale. So, who knows what the price is going to go back to, you know?

29:44 Well, that's true. So um one of the other things that scarcity produces is this idea that there are halves and have nots right?

29:52 So if the idea that you're fearful of missing out or fearful of your kid not loving you is isn't enough, there's a whole other um cognitive bias of of being a have not of being left out in the co which I guess is a fear of missing out. But there's also the benefit of being a have where if you're talking about like a fingerling which is a $15 toy but people were crazy for those things either last year or the year before any like just about anybody can afford this $15 toy. So, even if you're like a have not throughout the year, you're down on your luck, maybe you're unemployed or you're undermployed, um things just aren't going your way, you could still camp out and wait for that late night restocking of fingerlings and get your kid that toy. That's right. And for that time, you are a have Yeah. And maybe even somebody with a much higher social status than you couldn't get that fingerling, which makes it all the more

30:50 sweet. And then let's also not forget, like we said, this is during the holiday season. So emotions like count extra. So to be a have when you're normally not during the holiday season because you got a must have toy is exponentially uh increased.

31:06 Yeah, it's a big deal. Um because it's it even if it's just uh emotionally equal for a brief period of time,

31:15 it's it can be a big deal for somebody. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I say we take our final break here.

31:21 Same here. And then we come back and talk about uh the worst people, toy flippers, right after this. All right. So, I set up the worst people are toy flippers. Obviously, there's a lot of really, really bad people in the world, and I'm being somewhat hyperbolic, but I do think

32:02 somewhat the idea of buying uh targeting and buying a lot of must-have toys to sell later for profit on eBay

32:12 makes you a pretty rotten person. Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and lay that judgment down.

32:17 Some people do. I reserve judgment for the ones who do it professionally. I think if you are a person who is just trying to augment your um your own like holiday expenses and uh you are foreseeing a lack of supply ahead of time, I say more power to you.

32:40 Yeah, I'm not into it. I I I feel the same way about ticket scalpers. Yeah, it's exact I mean it's the same thing basically.

32:48 Yeah, it's it's buying up a bunch of things. Uh sometimes, and this is completely gross and awful, uh using bots.

32:57 Yeah, that's the pits to uh especially for concert tickets. Like when bots buy up all the best concert tickets,

33:03 especially our tickets. Yeah, exactly. That's I don't think anybody uses bots on ours.

33:08 Well, probably not. But um actually, stuff you should know is is we've seen very few bad uh examples of people trying to overcharge for a soldout show. More times than not, it's a fellow listener that's like, "Hey, just come along. You can sit next to me for face value or I'll even give it to you."

33:27 Yeah, that happens quite a bit. And yeah, I mean, there's only been a couple where somebody's like, you know, a million dollars and of course they didn't sell it.

33:34 No. Um, but yeah, we haven't run into that. Mostly the problem is from um ticket outlets just charging ridiculous fees on top of our ticket price. Well, that makes us mad and you all should know we don't have control over that.

33:48 No. Um, we're we're the Eddie veter of podcasting, right? But, uh, if you ever find yourself in a situation where you got shut out of a stuff you should know show and your option is to not go or to pay like a ridiculous amount, just send us an email. We'll put you on the list.

34:01 Oh god, Chuck. Wow. You just opened some floodgates. I mean, there's very few list spots, so it's not like, you know,

34:09 right now you just started a must have toy frenzy for the list. Look at what you've done.

34:15 Oh, let's get back to bots. Um, these bots are so savvy uh that they can they can buy out they can have hundreds of credit card numbers

34:25 on file because sometimes they'll have like a limit to how many things you can buy.

34:31 They are all these shortcuts and ways to bypass all of these safeguards put into effect, including captions. They will hire foreign workers to sit around and type in the captions to get through security,

34:44 which I mean, if there is anything that says holiday spirit more than that, I can't think of it.

34:50 But these bots can uh can sometimes buy out something in the the second that it goes up online for a regular human being to say, "Oh, like, all right, they've released the tickets or the the doll."

35:04 Mhm. Gone. Right. because they they'll so what they'll do is they'll go on to like retail websites and figure out what the unique ID is for the product that they're looking for.

35:13 That's the real it'll start right it'll start monitoring that page because people who build these pages will put them out and just won't you know kind of rel open the curtain for hours ahead of time. So the bot will have the page targeted and just keep refreshing it hundreds of times a second.

35:28 Yeah. until that sale goes live. And they will have ordered scores of these things or dozens or hundreds, whatever, however many it can before you can even if you're sitting there refreshing your browser. Between the time it takes to refresh your page, they will have wiped the place out using these bots. And then if you're truly sophisticated, you probably have another set of bots who take your inventory and then put it up for sale at some exorbitant price on Amazon or eBay or Craigslist or something like that.

36:01 Yeah. The worst people. So like you don't even have to do anything. You just stick your bots on it.

36:05 Yeah. And I stand by it even for the uh the enterprising person who I I just I don't know. I don't I have I have a big problem with someone making money off of someone else's misfortune to not have been able to get that themselves. I don't think it makes someone scrappy or enterprising at all.

36:23 Hey man, that's that's fine. Yeah, I I'll die on this hill. Okay, that's fine. So, if you are one of those people that Chuck hates and you want to be enterprising, there is a article written by Lisa Smith. It's on Investipedia and it's called the guide to reselling toys at Christmas for extra money.

36:41 Oh god. Which is very innocuous. Um then there's some tips actually that make a lot of sense if you want to do this. Do you want to go over them or you going to remain mute?

36:50 You can go over them. So you could talk to parents if you wanted to. Right, Chuck? Yeah, that's right Josh. Good idea. Um there because they know what kids want. You could talk to kids themselves which makes sense. I mean just go right to the horse's mouth. I've already said the same thing, Josh. Um, you can talk to Santa. I thought this was pretty enterprising. Like, imagine if you are trying, so what you're trying to do here is to identify what toy you want to buy as early ahead of time as possible

37:19 so that um, you can have identified the hot season, the hot toy of the season, and bought them before the demand really struck. So, you talk to mall sas, hang out in stores, you can talk to cashiers, stock people, all that stuff because not only will they know what toy you need to look out for, they'll know when these new supplies are coming in. Maybe slip them a Starbucks card or something like that with 10 bucks on it as a thank you,

37:45 but be sure to deduct that from your bottom line. Sure. Bribery. Deduct that bribery.

37:49 Right. And then, um, you can actually hang out in chat rooms. There's entire websites that are dedicated to this kind of stuff that are um you know that that say like here's the toys we're looking for. I I spotted some at this you know Walmart or whatever there this this stock guy said that Walmart re replenishes them on Thursdays at 10. Um there's a lot of stuff you can do if you really wanted to put the leg work in.

38:14 Great. Or you could put all that energy into doing something worthwhile. Right. I I know what you're talking about. This is the like the Michael Larson approach to the holidays. The the man who got no whammies on Press Your Luck.

38:29 Oh, I had no problem with him. Okay. This is virtually the same thing. No, it's not.

38:36 It's somebody gave Michael Larson wasn't uh there wasn't some uh father who didn't have much money that you know overpaid for a doll to make his little girl happy at Christmas time. Mhm.

38:49 Michael Larson didn't do that, right? Uh he would have though. I'm sure of it. Oh goodness.

38:58 So that's what you can do if you want to flip toys and ruin the holidays as far as Chuck's concerned.

39:03 That's right. Um and that is that is a big part of the competition are people who will go buy out stocks. Like you're not really facing them nationwide unless you're talking about people who release bots onto websites or whatever. they are out there and they do they do actually create competition and help drive that frenzy even further because remember what's behind must have toys is scarcity marketing and if there are people out there actively contributing to the scarcity that's a big deal

39:30 here's what I want to hear from I want to hear from uh some women listeners who let's say you go on a on a on a date from a dating app and you sit down across from your date and you're like what do you do and he goes I'm a toy flipper And she's like, "What's that?" He goes, "Well, you know, around Christmas time, I go out and I buy like tons of toys that I know little kids really really want and then I mark them up so I can make a lot of money off their parents who may not be able to afford it,

39:58 right?" And just tell me how that date goes from there. Yeah. Well, can it does it have to be a man and a woman? Can it just be anybody?

40:05 It can be anybody, but you know, I think the guy that does this is the guy that I just did that voice for

40:11 who's apparently from Jersey. Sure. They're all from New Jersey. Okay. And I love New Jersey.

40:17 So, um I feel like we've learned a lot here. Yeah. We've talked about, you know, how a toy becomes a musth have toy of a season. Usually, it has to do with some sort some combination of of advertising and buzz marketing as long or as well as um scarcity. The flippers get involved. Um, I think, and I want to back this up, Chuck, there's not a lot of stuff out there on this. This all had to be brought together. This is kind of one of those rare stuff you should know thesis.

40:47 Yeah. About what makes a must have toy a must have toy. But I think it's I think it holds up.

40:53 Should we talk about some of the the big toys of this year? Yes. So, those lists that are out there,

40:59 this helps me actually. We put a bunch of Well, that's the point. That's We're trying to help you and all of the toy flippers out there. So, actually this is for all the parents. This will help you get a drop on the toy flippers because I guarantee there are very few toy flippers listening to stuff you should know.

41:15 No, cuz we have good people in our audience. So, the all those lists that are out there now, we kind of compiled and crossreerenced them.

41:23 Uh, a number of them. Lists from Target, Toys, Tots, Pets, and More. That's just one. Amazon, The Today Show, Toy Insider, The Spruce, Crazy Coupon Lady, who had a post about toy flipping, Walmart, and New York Magazine. All of those lists we looked at, and we found ones that appeared on at least a couple, if not more. And one of them, the first one, appeared on basically every single list that we saw. Yeah, this one, the Bloom doll, B L U M E.

41:55 Uh, nothing to do with arrested development, but it is this is something that that my daughter might like. Apparently, this is another another thing you add water to uh and it blooms, but this is I don't think it hatches from an egg. I think this doll just like grows like a Chia Petet might

42:13 kind of. And like their hair that grows is I can't tell. It looks like some sort of foam or styrofoam or something, but it takes different shapes like pineapples or cakes or something like that.

42:22 So cute. And there's I think 22 different versions. Yeah. Okay. 10,000 of them at Walk It Up.

42:31 Yeah. But they're also Yeah. They're super affordable, too. So, they're they're probably going to be the hot must-have Christmas toy of the year is Bloom Dolls.

42:40 Hatchimals are still around. Yeah. And there's one that's um from How to Train Your Dragon, Toothless Dragon.

42:46 Yeah, the baby dragon. They have a Hatchimal version of him. What else? Surely Barbie's on the list.

42:52 Yeah, Barbie has a dream plane. Whoa. Which I saw in a couple of lists where um Yeah, it's a plane for Barbie. There's like a snack cart and everything.

43:02 Okay. Comes with a dog that I guess lives on the plane. Great. There's also LOL Surprise. Have you heard of that?

43:09 No. I hadn't heard of it either until we started researching this, but they're like a whole brand. Um, and a lot of these, including Bloom Dolls and LOL Surprise, they tap into like this whole trend of unboxing. Do you remember when we talked about unboxing on YouTube where like people open toys?

43:29 Yeah. Because our good friend uh Joe Randazzo did his Lego Man unboxing videos that were still to me one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

43:38 Yes. Great plug, by the way. But they they still do that. Like they're still unboxing. It's a huge trend and that's worked its way into toys. So LOL Surprise is kind of based on that. And there's like a whole line of dolls, but they're like into like DJ stuff and fashion and all that, but they also have Surprise. And there's also a kid named Ryan's World. I don't think that's his last name, but that's his his YouTube channel. And guarantee we talked about Ryan's world in that unboxing toys episode, but um he's got all sorts of toys that are um out where like you just don't know what you're getting when you open the thing. It's just surprise unboxing.

44:17 The weird subg genre on YouTube of unboxing or I remember we talked about the one where the lady's hands would just play with things.

44:25 Yeah, it was the Yeah, remember she was like Peppa Pig. Yeah, it's so interesting. Uh, I'll tell you the one on the list though that I like that um I usually look at the toys that I'm like, would I like to play this with my daughter because that's important.

44:40 I can't be bored out of my mind, you know. Oh, yeah. Good point. Uh, and this Lego make your own movie kit looks pretty cool to me.

44:48 Yeah, I was kind of heartened to see that on on a couple of lists, you know, because it's like this is

44:53 stopotion movies you can make. Yeah. It's thoughtful. It's inventive. I love it.

44:58 Yeah. Where it's it's Yeah. There's They have a bunch of different stages and backgrounds and props, including a banana. It's great. So, you learn how to make Are you going to get get her that?

45:10 I might. I think you should. You want to come over and make a movie? Anytime, buddy.

45:14 All right. Can we make a um a flaming hoop out of a coat hanger and do things with that, too?

45:19 Sure. Okay. Um and then the other one was the FisherPrice links, which are super cute, including the smooth move sloth. Hey, I'm down with Fisher Price.

45:29 Yeah, sloths are huge. Huge right now. Yeah. Do you remember Playmobil? Playmobil.

45:36 Remember they they were like the vaguely European kind of um action people, but there was nothing like violent or military about them. They would explore or um

45:48 I probably recognize him. I definitely know that name. You you've seen it a million times right when you see it. Yeah. I'll I'll I'll I'll look it up and show it to you later, but it's You'll see it and be like, "Yeah, of course."

45:59 Oh, wait. I see him right there. Sure. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. I was kind of a FisherPrice kid, but um you know, we still have some of that stuff that our daughter plays with that we had when we were kids, like the barn and the

46:10 uh the boat. And you know, it holds up. Definitely does hold up. You got anything else?

46:17 Got nothing else. You going to go buy a bunch of toys and flip them? I got nothing else except for 20,000 Hatchimals in my garage.

46:24 Man, here's the other thing though, Chuck. Like, you're taking a risk because you got to predict what the must have to. And if you if you guess wrong, you got 20,000 Hatchimals that nobody wants.

46:34 Boy, I'd love to see that happen in real life. I guarantee it happens. So, just keep an ear out.

46:41 All right. Uh, if you want to know more about the must have toys, there's basically nothing you can't know that we haven't already told you. So, just I guess go get your your kids some Christmas toys.

46:52 That's right. Is that a good way to sign off? That's great. Okay, since I said uh is this a good way to sign off, it's time for listener mail.

47:03 Uh I'm going to call this from a teacher. We always like to shout out our teachers and their their students.

47:09 Mhm. Uh hey guys, just sending one of what I'm sure is among infinite thank yous that you receive. As a teacher who regularly references knowledge I gain from listening to your show in my class, my students unwittingly uh and I are eternally grateful for your work. They give a hearty laugh whenever I steal your characters tuk tuk uh the wise protohomo sapien and Urg, the folly prone genetic defect to elucidate points about the evolution of early humans. Uh I knew you wouldn't mind my poaching that.

47:41 That's what you think, John. You'll be hearing from our lawyers, John. You're the toy flipper of teachers. Just kidding. Uh, the reason I'm writing is to say I think you should not be discouraged by any listener mail you receive telling you to keep your opinions to yourself. My favorite episodes are the ones where either or both of you have such strong feelings about the subject that you can't help but go on a rant. Maybe it's just because I agree with every rant, but I feel like it is important to take a stand on issues that matter to you and admit that you're human beings with a real stake in the game. Thanks again.

48:15 I'll keep listening as long as you keep podcasting. That is from John Labushkin. So, thank you, Mr. Labushkin. And hello to uh your students, Mr. Labushkin's class.

48:27 Yeah. Hi, guys. You got a cool teacher. Yeah, he does something pretty cool. He's doing God's work, teaching the next generation.

48:34 That's right. I hope he doesn't work in a public school cuz he's going to be like, "Can't say God's work."

48:40 Uh, if you want to get in touch with us like Mr. Leushkin did, or if you're a toy flipper who has an argument against Chuck's argument, we want to hear from you.

48:50 You can go on to stuff you should know.com and check out our social links. And you can also send us an email to stuffpodcast@iheartradio.com. Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: What Makes a Must-Have Christmas Toy? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

Chuck Bryan (Host), Josh Malcolm Clark (Host).

What is "SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: What Makes a Must-Have Christmas Toy? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW" about?

This content explores the characteristics that define a must-have Christmas toy, delving into various popular toys throughout the years and their impact on holiday traditions. It reflects on the cultural significance, marketing strategies, and consumer behaviors that contribute to a toy's popularity during the festive season.

What is mentioned in this Stuff You Should Know episode?

137 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Cabbage Patch Kids, Hatchimals, Chuck Bryan, Josh Malcolm Clark, Star Wars, Nintendo. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: What Makes a Must-Have Christmas Toy? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

The episode runs 49 min; the transcript is about 9,440 words in 226 timestamped sections.

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