Mattel

Mattel, Inc. is an American toy manufacturer and distributor, founded in 1945 by Harold Matson and Elliot Handler. Among its most popular products are Barbie, Hot Wheels, Monster High, Ever After High, Max Steel and Masters of the Universe. At the beginning of the 1980s it was also immersed in the video console sector. With a presence in more than 150 countries and complementary brands such as Fisher-Price or Mega Brands, it is the second largest toy company in the world behind Hasbro.

History

The Mattel Creations company was founded in 1945 by Harold Matson and Elliot Handler, who used an acronym of their names to name the business. Months after being created, Harold sold his part due to his health problems to Ruth Handler, the wife of the founder.At first Mattel was oriented to the framing and manufacture of toy furniture. It was not until 1947, thanks to the success of the Uke-A-Doodle ukulele, that they oriented all their activity to the toy sector. Mattel was one of the first companies to pre-test children's reactions, with moderate successes such as the Burp Gun and Fanner 50 pistols. In addition, in 1955 he reached an agreement with the television program Mickey Mouse Club to advertise his products outside of the Christmas season.

In 1959, Mattel revolutionized the market with the launch of the Barbie doll. Until that year, all the dolls aimed at the female audience had childish shapes, so Ruth Handler proposed creating an adult-looking doll to play with and dress. For this, she had been inspired by a German model for adults, Bild Lilli, to which they removed any sexual connotation thanks to the redesign of their trusted employee Jack Ryan. Despite the fact that Mattel managers were very reluctant to Barbie, Ruth managed to convince them by presenting her as an adult reference in which girls could notice. Such was its good reception that in 1961 the male counterpart Ken was launched. Today Barbie is the best-selling doll in history, is an icon of children's toys and has been marketed in more than 150 countries.

Mattel became one of the main toy multinationals; after going public in New York in 1963, its profits quadrupled to $100 million in less than two years. In addition to Barbie, other successful collections were published such as Chatty Cathy (1960), one of the first talking dolls on the market, or the model cars Hot Wheels (1968).

However, the economic recession of the 1970s uncovered a case of accounting fraud within Mattel. In 1973 it was discovered that company executives had falsified financial reports to disguise possible losses through sales that had not occurred. The board of directors was dismissed in 1974, and both Ruth Handler and former vice president Seymour Rosenberg ended up being sentenced to a fine and community service. The Handler family sold their stake in 1980, and Ruth used some of the money to found a prosthetic implant factory; Mattel would not reconcile with the founders until the 1990s.

The new management returned to profit, largely thanks to the success of He-Man and the Masters of The Universe (MOTU) toy franchise. The other bet was the incipient market for electronic games through Intellivision, which would last in the market from 1979 until the outbreak of the videogame crisis in 1983. However, the collapse in sales of the The MOTU saga in 1987 led Mattel to reorient its strategy: it got rid of its loss-making subsidiaries and focused its efforts on the most profitable collections: Barbie, Hot Wheels and a new retail agreement. license with Disney. At that time, it was ousted from first place in the toy market by its rival Hasbro.

To consolidate its position, Mattel took control of Fisher-Price (1993), Tyco Toys (1997), HIT Entertainment (2012) and Mega Brands (2014). And with regard to its products, it obtained benefits with the licenses of Disney Princesses, the Harry Potter saga, and the launch of the new collection of Monster High dolls. Since 2002, all of Mattel's production has been outsourced to China.

Mattel Creations

Mattel Creations is a subsidiary of Mattel dedicated to the production of television series, films and video games related to the company's toys. This division, established in 2016, brings together Mattel Playground Productions (responsible for original production), HIT Entertainment (specialized in children's programs) and series related to American Girl.

Before its constitution, the company had already been one of the first toy companies to explore the audiovisual market. In 1970 he had associated with director Robert B. Radnitz to create the production company Radnitz/Mattel Productions, responsible for titles such as Sounder (1972) or Where the Lilies Bloom (1974). to animation, in 1983 he associated with the production company Filmation to make the cartoon series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Lionsgate, Universal and Warner Bros. Pictures in the production of films about Barbie, Monster High and Hot Wheels.

Toys

Exhibition Barbie in the 2017 Wikimania.

Dolls and action figures

• WWE
• American Girl
• Barbie
• Ever After High
• Hot Wheels
• Masters of the Universe
• Matchbox
• Max Steel
• Monster High
• Polly Pocket
• Cars Diecast cars
• DC Super Hero Girls
• DC (films and TV series)
  

Previous collections

• WWE (Only in Latin America)
• Fixed-wing aircraft
• Big Jim.
• Cabbage Patch Kids
• Chatty Cathy
• My Scene
• Disney Princess
• Winx Club
• DC Super Hero Girls (Only in Latin America)
• DC (TV films and series) (Only in Latin America)

UNO cards on a board.

Board games

• Apples to Apples
• Magic 8-Ball
• Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
• UNO
• Scrabble (world license, except in the United States and Canada)
• D

Game Consoles

• Intellivision (1979-1983)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
• Mattel Aquarius (1983)
• HyperScan (2006-2007)