assignment 5-1

Beanie Babies

The item I have chosen as an item of popular culture this week is Beanie Babies. Beanie Babies were first started in Ty Inc. The original nine Beanie Babies launched in 1993 were Legs the Frog, Squealer the pig, Spot the dog, Flash the dolphin, Splash the whale, Chocolate the moose, Patti the platypus, Brownie the bear (later named Cubbie), and Punchers the lobster (later named Pincher). (Wikipedia, 2008). When Beanie Babies swept the nation no one realized what a popular item they would be. However, quickly people everywhere became addicted to collecting these cute little animals with the heart tag and donning the Ty emblem. McDonalds even joined in the craze adding its miniature collection of beanie bears. Men, women and children of all ages were collecting these irresistible little animals. Everywhere you went you saw different types of them. There were the bears themselves, the other animals and reptiles, and soon Ty people and bigger plush animals modeled after the original Beanie Babies were made. In order to keep business booming only a select amount of certain animals were created, and if you happened to get one of these you were in a special class, Princess the bear and Garcia the bear are examples of these. There were special millennium bears, special birthday bears, special sports bears, bears of all kinds for every one. Everywhere you went there were these Ty bears and animals and we spent full days shopping specialty stores and flea markets in order to obtain the specialty bears and be one of the privileged few who owned these. I admit I was sucked in and now have two full tubs of Beanie Babies collecting dust in my basement. I spent countless days and hours searching for these special bears and standing in line at McDonalds just to purchase the miniature bears. I tried to pretend I was getting them all for my children, but the truth is I was caught up in the excitement of it all and wanted all of the elite special bears just as much as the next crazy lady pushing in line to get the last one.

Beanie Baby. (2008). Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beanie_Baby