Miscellaneous

Did You Know?

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

What was the first toy advertised on TV? 

© Special Learning House

Mr. Potato Head was invented and manufactured by George Lerner in 1949. It was first distributed by Hasbro in 1952 and made history as the first toy to be advertised on television. It has remained in production since then.

The original kit contained plastic body parts and accessories such as eyes, a nose, and mouth but it was up to the buyer to provide a real potato for the body. Due to complaints regarding rotting vegetables and new government safety regulations, Hasbro began including a plastic potato body with the toy set in 1964.

The original toy was joined by Mrs. Potato Head in 1953 and later supplemented with accessories including a car and boat trailer. Hasbro updated the brand in 2021, dropping the honorific in the name and marketing the toy simply as  Potato Head, while retaining the individual characters of Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head.

The TV commercials, directly targeting children rather than parents, were revolutionary for their time and sparked enormous demand. The success of the TV campaign not only made the toy a household name but also transformed the way toys were marketed, setting the stage for future iconic ads like those for Barbie and GI Joe.

Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head both appeared in the Toy Story franchise, voiced by Don Rickles and Estelle Harris (George Costanza’s mother on “Seinfeld”). Perfect choices, IMO. As one of the prominent marks of Hasbro, a Mr. Potato Head balloon is now part of the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade …. and that’s no small potatoes!

Did you have an original Mr. Potato Head? I sure did! Always on the cutting edge, I used a sweet potato for my Mrs. Potato Head’s body! 😂

Here’s an early TV commercial for Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head. Check out the prices!


You heard it here first, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

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All text and graphics are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

47 thoughts on “Did You Know?”

      1. 😂 That’s hilarious! We ate plenty of meat and (white) potatoes, but I didn’t have a sweet potato until I was older. I did have an Easy Bake Oven – my brother ate everything. 😠😆🤗

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        1. My mom cooked with sweet potatoes, cutting them up for stew and soup, but we didn’t eat them baked whole and served with Thanksgiving dinner or whipped into a casserole with mini marshmallows. I was 12 or 13 when the Easy Bake Oven came out and I had moved on to other interests by then.

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  13. Those old commercials are so funny to look back on. Yes, the price! So cheap! I think my sister had one of these, and I might have played with it a time or two. She is 5 years younger than I am. 🙂

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