G.I. Joe Action Figures Give Boys A Toy
Dolls were considered to be girl toys back in the 1960s. Boys were just not seen playing with dolls with much regularity unless they wanted to be teased and called sissies. Doll manufacturers specifically made dolls for girls even before the Barbie doll was introduced in 1959. Typically dolls were made to resemble babies and came with bottles and rattles. That was something little girls could play with to practice for motherhood.
But given the popularity of dolls with girls and in particular the worldwide success of the Barbie doll, toy companies wondered if they could produce a doll boys would be interested in. Ultimately after much thought and research, the conclusion reached was that if a doll was to be successfully marketed to boys it had to be a rough and rugged character that would interest boys exclusively. It couldn't be a unisex doll that would appeal to both boys and girls. Girls had Barbie and many other dolls. Boys needed a doll of their own.
Based on that, the first G.I. Joe Dolls were introduced in 1964 and became an immediate success. Boys loved the tough guy represented by G.I. Joe Dolls and wanted one. G.I. Joe Dolls became one of the most popular dolls in the history of toys. G.I. Joe Dolls were a foot tall and had moveable part enabling boys to put the doll in various action poses.
G.I. Joe was a private in the US Army and came complete with boot, uniform, and dog tags. G.I. Joe was a very simple doll exclusively for boys and that turned out to be a brilliant idea. G.I. Joe Doll accessories were also available. The G.I. Joe Doll sold for about five dollars but the real money was made on all the accessories and uniforms boys wanted for the G.I. Joe dolls. So the toy companies followed the old Gillette model to make a fortune. Practically give away the razor and make your profit selling the blades that need to be replaced frequently. The same theory worked with G.I. Joe Dolls. Five dollars was a reasonable price for the doll and many times that was made selling the various accessories that boys wanted. The toy companies also figured correctly that boys would influence the buy decisions of the parents and that would mean big profits in the G.I. Joe Doll accessories. As opposition to the Vietnam War grew in the late 1960s, G.I. Joe Dolls became somewhat of a controversial figure but at that point, the toy manufacturers had already made a fortune selling G.I. Joe Dolls and accessories. The doll was still popular with boys and despite the fact that it only appealed to half of the child population, G.I. Joe dolls went on to become one of the most successful toys in history.
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