Trouble in Toyland

WHEN Santa touches down on the nation's roofs this Christmas Eve, his big bag of toys will be a little lighter than usual. In a rare occurrence, Americans will acquire fewer toys this year than last. Manufacturers' shipments for the first nine months of 1971 slipped to $1.56 billion, down from $1.58 billion for the same period last year. Mattel, the General Motors of the toy industry, has seen its nine months' sales figures drop from $280 million to $217 million, and has reported a net loss of $4,003,000 for the period.

Troubles have piled up in Toyland partly because the economy has been sluggish. A toy is an easy purchase to put off. But some of the difficulties trace back to last year's Christmas season. In anticipation of high sales that did not develop, retailers stocked too many toys, especially Mattel's Hot Wheels, a combination of plastic tracks and miniature metal cars. Loads of Hot Wheels are now cooling off in warehouses or often being sold for six for $1, whereas one alone used to cost that much. Wary of being burned again, merchants have reduced their Christmas orders as they live off their inventories.

Back to Old-Fashioneds. Some manufacturers have had a hard time filling existing orders because of the disastrous 101-day West Coast dock strike. West Coast companies like Mattel and Eldon Industries were especially hurt. Shipments from Asia, which had been expected in July and August, remained bottled up in harbors until much of the merchandise was too late to be sent out for the Christmas trade.

Parents are also taking a much more critical look at toys that are overpriced, overpromoted, easy to break and hard to repair. In consequence, this is the year of the staples: old-fashioned toys that are not encumbered with frills and are likely to endure. "It is no longer possible to sell parents toys that will hold the child's attention for a very brief time," says the sales manager of a big Midwestern toy company. "Any toy that is to be popular must draw the child back to it again and again."

The toys that are selling well include bikes and blocks, chemistry sets and games like Monopoly. Educational toys are also making gains; one popular item is a "talking clock" that teaches kids how to tell time. The Barbie doll is holding her own despite competition from her more glittering sisters who eat, tell time and talk on the telephone. G.I. Joe, a boys' doll that used to be outfitted in military togs, has been redecorated in deference to antiwar sentiment. He now often appears in the garb of an astronaut or aquanaut.

The Food and Drug Administration has banned some metal-tipped darts, spinning tops with sharp spikes and other toys that are a clear danger to children. Still dissatisfied, consumer groups are waging war on other toys that appear to be hazardous when damaged or misused. One manufacturer, Strombecker Corp., has commendably put warning notices on some of its products ("Toys should be examined for obvious faults which may cause injury, such as sharp edges or projections").

Consumer groups have cited some toys as being too sadistic: for example, a do-it-yourself guillotine set that is fortunately too small for a child's head. The New York chapter of the National Organization for Women denounced one toy as sexist: a semi-nude doll that is strapped to a platform while a pendulum dangles above her. For the first time, doctor play kits are selling better than nurse kits. Mothers are telling their daughters that they no longer have to settle for being a nurse; doctor kits get them off to a more liberated start in life.

Toymakers are beginning to tone down the hard sell of their advertising and play up the creative side of their products. They are also switching their TV commercials from Saturday and Sunday mornings to prime time, when grownups also are the viewers. "The ad has to hit the family," says Herbert R. Sand, executive vice president of Ideal Toy Corp. "The child has to get the approval of his mother or father." But the manufacturers' best public efforts in the TV room may be thwarted by prospective parents' private decisions in the bedroom. Because of the decline in births in the U.S., the number of children aged five to nine will drop until at least 1975.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.