The Fight Over Advertising to Kids and How it Shaped 80s Television

[TMC]

1980s cartoons were different to say the least. Whether or not you think they were good is obviously subjective. What is undeniably true is that after Ronald Reagan got elected and put Reagonomics into effect cartoons changed almost over night. Advertisers were able to target kids in ways that had been impossible for over a decade. Shows like He-Man, Transformers, GI Joe, Thundercats, The Mister T Show, and nearly 80 other cartoons during this time were all created with one thing in mind. How do we sell toys, merch, and junk food?

[Hawkee]

When you get the general picture when the 1980's was starting out cartoons based on toys started becoming popular because as many people said they were used as a way to market the toy lines and help sell lots of the toy line in toy stores. One toy company to do this that actually helped the cartoons based on toys fad was Hasbro and with their own production company Sunbow Productions and teaming up with Marvel Productions Hasbro and Sunbow/Marvel Productions made their marks with producing cartoons such as My Little Pony GI Joe Potato Head Kids Transformers Moondreamers and Jem And The Holograms they all were hits and My Little Pony was actually part of My Little Pony And Friends and due to the success of My Little Pony toys selling big the cartoon was a hit and the same could be said for The Glo Friends and Potato Head Kids which were based on the infant and preschool toylines of the same names. And even Barbie tried to venture into the cartoon fad with the two videos Barbie And The Rockers Out Of This World and Barbie And The Sensations Rocking Back To Earth and although those videos were hits a whole Barbie cartoon series was never made but still sold Barbie dolls during the 80's. even in action figures this cartoon phase became popular with the MASK cartoon series which was based on the Kenner MASK toyline and Silverhawks which also was a toyline and then He-Man And The Masters And The Universe and She-Ra Princess Of Power became giant sellers in toys due to the cartoon's popularity. And why I think cartoons based on toys were huge during the 80's they were used to get parents to buy the toys for their kids no matter if it was for a birthday or Christmas these cartoons were usually made to do just that. And we would see this fad continue into the 90's as more cartoons would be made