Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hi, Kyle. Could you draw up a quick document with the basic business plan? Just one page as a Google Doc and send me the link. Thanks.
Hey, just finished drawing up that quick one page business plan for you. Here's the link.
But there was no link. There was no business plan. I hadn't programmed Kyle to be able to do that yet. I'm Evan Ratliff here with a story of entrepreneurship in the AI age. Listen as I attempt to build a real startup run by fake people. Check out the second season of my podcast, Shell Game, on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Whether it is getting swatted or just hateful messages online, there is a lot of harm in even just reading the comments. That's cybersecurity expert Camille Stewart Gloucester on the Therapy for Black Girls podcast. Every season is a chance to grow, and the Therapy for Black Girls podcast is here to walk with you.
I'm Dr. Joy Harden-Bradford, and each week we dive into real conversations that help you move with more clarity and confidence. This episode, we're breaking down what really happens to your information online and how to protect yourself with intention. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, everybody. Chuck here for another one of our Christmas-centric episodes with our 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist. And today I'm very pleased to introduce to you an episode that I liked quite a bit because when I was a kid, I loved me some Hot Wheels. And so this is that episode, How Hot Wheels Work. Pretty interesting story. Hope you guys enjoy it.
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Chapter 2: What nostalgic memories do people have about Hot Wheels?
You probably had the... The huge ones? Yeah. Yeah. No, I had the real ones. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. I don't, that's fighting words. Man, the ones that I had were so awesome. They were like, there was a huge, vast collection of all of them. There was like Cobra, Cobra didn't exist when you were collecting G.I. Joe's.
No, but how could you say like, oh, that one that's 10 inches tall and has real clothes and fuzzy hair and the Kung Fu grip is inferior to this little plastic thing. I think you just said it all. Fuzzy hair, says it right there. I don't really mean that, Chuck. I don't have a dog in that fight. Like, if you like the big G.I. Joes, that's cool. I got no problem.
Yeah, as a quick side note, I have to tell this story. Okay. You know how you used to do book reports and you would have to have a visual aid? Yeah. I might have told this before. If I do, I apologize. I don't recognize it. I did a report on Franco Harris when I went to school because he was a football player. Yeah. I don't know why I did Franco Harris. Yeah.
But I got my mom to make me a little Pittsburgh Steelers uniform for my G.I. Joe because he looked like Franco Harris. Nice. Yeah. And that was my visual aid. You still have it. No, of course not. We had the GI Joes, but I think the Steedler's uniform has gone bye-bye. That's sad. Yeah. You know, I'm sure your mom put a lot of work into that. Now I feel guilty.
So, Chuck, I have a question for you. Yes. Did you know that the number one vehicle manufacturer on the planet is, in fact, Hot Wheels? I did. It's astounding until you stop and think about it. Apparently, since 1968, when Hot Wheels were first introduced, more than 4 billion Hot Wheels have been produced. That's more than the big four Detroit automakers combined. You're like, wow.
And then you think, oh yeah, it costs a minute fraction of the cost to build a Hot Wheels than it does a normal car. Plus also, it's not like you're gonna go, I want this Buick Cutlass Supreme in every color it comes in. With the Hot Wheels, you can do that. The Lego stat is they're the biggest manufacturer of tires. I wonder though, do these not count as tires because they're plastic?
They count as wheels? I don't know, man. Because four billion times four, that's 16 billion tires. That's a really great question. I might have to challenge Lego. Or maybe just look up how many tires they manufacture. Old Kirk Christensen is not going to be happy about this. Who was that? The founder of Lego. Oh. Remember Ole? Oh, yeah, that's right. I thought you were saying old. No, Ole.
Yeah, remember Ole. Yeah. So let's talk about the history of this stuff, huh? Okay. So Hot Wheels, like I said, have been around since 1968. And anybody who's heard the Barbie Trademark Podcast knows will recognize the name Elliot Handler. That's Ruth Handler, the inventor of Barbie trademarks husband. And Elliot apparently saw a real chance to muscle in on an already extant market.
by a company called Tyco that had a line of miniature metal cars, die-cast cars is what they're called, called Matchbox cars. By the time Hot Wheels came around, Matchbox was already there and had established a market, and Mattel said, let's get in on that. Yeah, and the rumor is that he saw his grandchildren playing with them and said, they kind of stink, I can make these better and cooler.
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Chapter 3: How did Hot Wheels become a major player in the toy industry?
Yeah, I don't think there was any, like, surreptitious intent. Yeah. So, like I said, right out of the gate, Hot Wheels was a hit. They had a cartoon within a year or so of the first 16 being released. Sure. The second release, they had, I think, 22 new cars released. Yeah, 33 total. And then the third year they had another, they released 33 after that, right? Yeah, I'm sorry, 33 by 1970.
So they did 16, 24, and then 33, and all of them came in different colors, right? So like I said, if you had one, that didn't mean you had them all. You wanted to collect them all. So kids were going crazy for it. And another way that Mattel very wisely targeted children was to get in with fast food. In 1970, the first Hot Wheels came out as a toy at Jack in the Boxes. Oh, really? Yeah.
The big one, though, the one that put them over the top, was in 1983 when kids who were lucky enough to be taken to McDonald's for dinner. Happy meal. To get a Hot Wheel. Exactly. which is what they called them at the time, could get one of 14 Hot Wheels in 1983. And they had some cool ones. They had a Chevy Citation. Did they really? Yeah. They had one that was one of my favorites, actually.
It was a Toyota Mini Trek, which is like a station wagon camper. And it even said, painted on the side, good time camper that you could get in your Happy Meal. Which, if I could have one... Hot Wheel, it would probably be that. You know what they were doing now that I look back through my adult eyes? Like snorting pot?
No, they were giving you a bunch of crappy ones because you wanted to keep coming back to get the cool one. Yeah, probably. You're like, ah, I got a citation. I'm like, can I go back because I want to get the hot rod. Right. That's exactly what they were doing. Sure. Man, I feel so manipulated. What did you think they were doing with Happy Meals?
Well, I mean, I know it was all manipulation to get you to try and own all of them. Right. But they should have been all cool ones, but you can't do that because the regular kid might be like, no, I got the cool one, I'm fine. But if you get the citation, you feel jipped off and you really want to go back and get one of the hot rods. Yeah. My eyes are wide open, my friend.
Well, that's why our friends down under in Australia have outlawed marketing directly to children, which I think is a fantastic move. Oh, really? Yeah, it's so unfair to market directly to children. It almost literally is like taking candy from a baby. Kids aren't sophisticated enough to psychologically defend themselves from being bombarded by adults to say, go tell your parents to buy you this.
You can't function correctly without this Trapper Keeper, so go get it. The Trapper Keeper? Yeah. Did they make a law? Yeah. Really? Yeah, it's a big one. Very progressive law. It's a big law. I think all countries should adopt.
Well, in 1983, I agree wholeheartedly, by the way, in 1983 is when that Happy Meal thing happened, and also the same year they moved from Hong Kong to Malaysia, and it said that's when they added their economy cars, so that must have coincided with the citation. Yeah, the Citation, man. One of the most disappointing Happy Meal toys you could possibly get.
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