Love to shop!
Love to shop!
Seems I’m promoting Barbie and Jelly Cats at the moment, then neither need much help from me, do they?
I’m thinking particularly of the little girls in nursery and how many of them love Barbie, and then there is my own granddaughter who just adores Jelly Cats. Some toys and characters appear and disappear rather quickly, not so for the lovely Barbie who came to life nearly seventy years ago. I had them all and could be heard chatting as a small child with my dolls, which much to mum’s delight kept me occupied for hours. I recently read about Ruth Handler – co founder of Mattel – who was the visionary for the first Barbie doll.
Seemingly, the fashion doll created by the businesswoman was manufactured by the American toy and entertainment company, and introduced to the market on March 9, 1959. The rest is history, as they say, with the success of the doll and the Barbie Brand now worth around $720 million USD today.
Hum!
So then I decided to look at the beginning of the Jelly Cat story and discovered that the founders of the Jelly Cat Empire – 2 brothers – Thomas and William Gatacre launched their empire with the first lovable, soft and huggable character in 1999, in London. In comparison to Barbie the company is only worth 58 million USD, but hey ho, I’m sure they’re not complaining!
We so often take things for granted, and don’t consider the back story or the face behind the mask of the things around us. The question might be, do we even care?
Personally I find some of these back stories fascinating and Colonel Sanders – our beloved Kentucky Fried Chicken pioneer – has always been one of my favourite.
I digress, the whole point of this blog intended to be centred around children and how they very much – like us grown ups – love to shop. My concern today is how much is spent on some of the little darlings, as I ponder on the, ‘haves and have nots!’ I will always recall the day I bought a soft toy – a blue dragon actually – and gave it to a small child sitting with a beggar woman on the streets of Mexico City. The joy on that child’s face as he snuggled that dragon will stay with me forever.
Meanwhile as the visionaries and the inventors, success v failure stories continue to unfold, the mysteries of life have always interested me. Life is certainly full of adventure!
So speaking of adventures, my doll Rianbo is often out and about with a young child, and though we rarely post images due to data protection she can now be found on her own Instagram account. Anna McKann (@annamckann) • Instagram photos and videos
It brings music to my soul to see how many children delight in the little rag doll. Wish I had made a fraction of the money that some known toy visionaries have made. I certainly would have spent the money wisely, that’s for sure.
So thinking of the delight that Rianbo brings to those children who hold her precious. I certainly know one little girl who won’t go anywhere without her. She has the advantage as her nanny has a box full of the dolls in her office. If she goes missing in the sand dunes she knows where to find a replacement.
Enjoy your travels Rianbo.
Chat soon.
Anna
