The G.I. Joe doll turned 25 years old this year - a birthday many toy retailers are happy to celebrate.
G.I. Joe has kept the cash registers ringing. Since introducing G.I. Joe in February 1964, Hasbro Inc. has sold more than 200 million related action figures and more than 100 million toy vehicles, generating more than $1.2 billion in retail sales.Coupled with ancillary products such as videos, shoes, clothes and comic books, the retail sales are closer to $2 billion, Hasbro reports.
The Toy Manufacturers of America rates the G.I. Joe line among the top five toys sold nationally in the past two years - a strong comeback for a toy that was discontinued and then re-introduced over the protests of critics who say it encourages violent and destructive behavior.
That protest continues today, as some child-development experts and peace groups believe such toys contribute to a more violent society.
Michael Marsh, program staffer for the Stop War Toys Campaign of the New England War Resisters Group, based in New York City, says, "We realize it's a best seller. But we feel all war toys - including the G.I. Joe dolls - teach youngsters the only way to resolve conflict is through violence rather than seeking cooperation."
Marsh says studies by the National Coalition of TV Violence, headquartered in Champaign, Ill., show that youngsters playing with G.I. Joe and other war toys have an increased level of violent activity during and following playing with war toys. Marsh also points out that the "bad guys" are usually foreign or handicapped in some way.
And Dr. Jerri Daniel, director of the Child Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh, says she has never bought war toys for her son.
One of the main ways children learn to handle the world is to fantasize, Dr. Daniel says. "This is how they figure out the world. When you give a child a war toy, what you're giving him to handle are tools of destruction." She says fantasy becomes very real in a world where TV brings war into homes.
Until 1978, G.I. Joe action figures were 11-1/2 inches tall. When they returned in 1982, they were reduced to their current height of 3-3/4 inches. Hasbro maintains G.I. Joe was "furloughed," not because of the protests, but because increased petroleum prices made manufacture of the larger figures prohibitive.
The average action figure now retails for about $3 and vehicles range from $4 to $45.
Since the G.I. Joe line was introduced, 230 different action figures have been produced by Hasbro. The total includes astronaut figures.