Mr. Potato Head
Due to complaints regarding rotting vegetables and new government safety regulations, Hasbro began including a plastic potato body with the toy set in 1964.
Potato Head both appeared in the Toy Story franchise, voiced by Don Rickles and Estelle Harris, respectively.
[5] Toy Story Midway Mania!, in Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort, also features a large talking Mr.
[6] Hasbro updated the brand in 2021, dropping the honorific in the name and marketing the toy simply as Potato Head, while retaining the individual characters of Mr. and Mrs.
One theory is that, as a child, Lerner often took potatoes from his mother's garden and, using various other fruits and vegetables as facial features, made dolls for his younger sisters.
[1] In a slight variation of this story, the items he attached to the potatoes were smaller fruits and vegetables (e.g., grapes for eyes and carrots for noses).
However, others have speculated that he got the idea from his wife's nephew Aaron Bradley, who was seen placing sticks inside of potatoes in the family garden.
Finding a buyer was initially a challenge because companies thought consumers would be hesitant to waste food so soon after the rationing that was widespread during World War II.
Just a few months later (in 1952), the toy company Hassenfeld Brothers (now known as Hasbro) and Lerner bought back the rights to Funny Face Man kits from Post.
[clarification needed][1][10] The commercial revolutionized marketing by focusing on children as a target audience and encouraging them to ask their parents to buy the product (a concept that came to be known as the "nag factor").
Additionally, between 1949 and 1952, television sales had increased exponentially, and a massive polio outbreak in 1952 resulted in children spending more time indoors.
Potato Head variant, and soon after, Brother Spud and Sister Yam completed the family, [1][3] followed by accessories reflecting the affluence of the 1950s: a car, boat trailer, kitchen set, stroller, and pets marketed as Spud-ettes.
In the 1960s, Hasbro also introduced the Tooty Frooty Friends kit, which came with over 60 pieces for building four additional characters: Katie the Carrot, Kooky the Cucumber, Oscar the Orange, and Pete the Pepper.
[1] Although the toys were originally produced as separate plastic parts to be attached to a real potato or other vegetable,[11] in 1964, Hasbro began to include a separate plastic head and body in each box and made the attachments less sharp, leaving them unable to puncture vegetables easily.
These changes were due, in part, to parental complaints about finding spoiled food in their homes, but there were also reports of children choking on the small pieces or cutting themselves with the sharp ends.
Some of these themed sets included Chef, Construction Worker, Firefighter, Halloween, King, Mermaid, Police Officer, Pirate, Princess, Rockstar, and Santa Claus.
[8] On February 25, 2021, Hasbro dropped the honorific in the brand name and began marketing the toy simply as "Potato Head", while retaining the individual characters of Mr. and Mrs.
[7] However, several media outlets misinterpreted the announcement as stating that all Potato Head products would henceforth be gender neutral.
Potato Head which used pieces from the 1987 Bucket of Parts (a black derby hat, an orange nose, a long mustache, pink ears, a tall set of eyes, and blue sneakers) to replicate his look from the film.
An additional five Star Wars-themed potato heads were sold exclusively through Disney theme parks: "Luke Frywalker", "Yam Solo",[22] "Spuda Fett", "Princess Tater", and "Darth Mash".
Potato Heads were unveiled including "Woody's Tater Roundup", "Spud Lightyear",[22] "Jessie the Spud-slinging Cowgirl", and the classic Mr. and Mrs.
[26] To promote The Looney Tunes Show, Hasbro unveiled Bugs Bunny-, Daffy Duck-, and Tasmanian Devil-themed Mr.
Potato Head (based on his 1968 TV special) would be released,[22] as well as sets for The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Lion),[28] the Three Stooges, Star Trek (Kirk and Kor),[29] and SpongeBob SquarePants.
[citation needed] Hasbro also produced new "Active Adventures" versions of "Woody's Tater Roundup" and "Spud Lightyear".
[citation needed] In addition to film and television, the character has been the subject of a comic strip created by Garfield creator Jim Davis.
Potato Head are "guests" in the 1980s section of Pop Century Resort at Walt Disney World in Florida.
Jackson's vitiligo was also mocked when one child said the toy did not look quite right and his father peels it, revealing white skin underneath.
Potato Head is shown to be moody towards Andy's other toys, though he is friends with Hamm the piggy bank (John Ratzenberger).
Potato Head saves three Alien toys (Jeff Pidgeon) from falling out of a Pizza Planet truck, only for them to continually pester him, his wife Mrs.
Potato Head has appeared in all three Toy Story Toons shorts: Hawaiian Vacation (2011), Small Fry (2011), and Partysaurus Rex (2012), voiced again by Don Rickles.
