The Beanie Pheno. Essay, Research Paper

October 30, 1998Eng 306Essay WritingFinal Draft The Beanie Phenomenon “The Original Nine,” sounds like a music group or even a gang of notorious mobsters, doesn’t it. But it’s actually a group of nine adorable inexpensive little stuffed animals that easily won the hearts of both children and adults around the world. H. Ty Warner is the owner of Ty, Incorporated based in Oakbrook, IL. The company that started it all. Ty began producing “Beanie Babies in 1993, with “The Original Nine.” Then it was only Pinchers, Chocolate, Brownie, Flash, Legs, Patti, Splash, Spot, and Squealer. Who knew that a red lobster (Pinchers), a brown moose (Chocolate), a brown bear (Brownie), a gray dolphin (Flash), a lime green frog (Legs), a magenta platypus (Patti), a black and white orca whale (Splash), a white and black dog (Spot) and a baby pink pig (Squealer) would start a social phenomenon would have such a following that it would lead to millions of collectors and dollars. When Ty Warner began producing beanies, he wanted to price them low enough ($5.00 to $6.95) so that children could buy them with their allowance and have something to collect. However, the popularity of these toys has exploded and are one of the most sought after collectibles consuming hours of effort in attainment, not by the children for whom they were created but by professional adults compelled to complete and keep up their own collections. Although Beanies are mass-produced, they are very difficult to find. They are not available in any of the major toy stores, so you have to look in quaint little floral shops, candy stores, museums, zoos, and hospital gifts shops. So, while standing in the front of a line outside the New Hanover Regional Medical Center Gift Store (when the line runs to the ER and back), or even in front of some small florist shop the people range in age from two to one hundred and two. The people always vary, you see people rushing in from their lunch break to grab a chance at a much sought after piece for their collection, you may even see people in lawn chairs and coolers, waiting for the store to unpack the shipment. I have even seen men in three-piece suits asking women in sweatpants for rumors on what a store may have. However, the main collectors are baby boomers, because they have the funds to buy off the secondary market (The secondary market is where people buy the beanies and sell them for whatever price that they want. Ty has no control over it), where some beanies can sell as high as $4000 dollars apiece. The secondary market has gotten so out of hand that US custom officers are now searching suitcases for more than drugs. They have been told to keep an eye out for the beanie babies, in an effort to cut down on counterfeiting. Some collectors have lost $1000s of dollars by buying counterfeit beanies. A counterfeit beanie can be anything from a beanie stolen out of the factories throwaway bin, to a beanie that has the tag of another beanie attached to it (to make it “seem” more valuable). But what is it that makes them so attractive that people will wait for hours, or spend hundreds of dollars just to get one of these little stuffed animals? I believe that beanie babies remind a lot of people of their youth. I also believe that people like them for what they are: small plush animals, which are partially filled with poly-fill pellets. We are also at a time where many people are looking for the comfort of a non-violent toy, that is not overly expensive. But that’s just my opinion. However, I was curious, so I asked some fellow beanie collectors that very question while waiting in line. The answers: “They’re for my kids.” “My wife made me come, because she couldn’t get off work.” “Let’s see I bought one about a year ago for $5.00, and just sold it for $150.00″ “I just can’t resist them, they are so cute.” “I have no idea.” “My wife made me sell my Hot Wheels collection, so I moved on to beanies.”

“It’s the only thing that me and my teen-ager likes.” TY’s beanie babies have also lead many other companies products into the red. The so-called “generic” beanies have become a $700 million dollar industry. And as Beanie Babies have become a popular collectable, other compatible companies have seemed to pop up over night. Everything from Acid-free tag covers (protects the heart tag that hangs from the beanie) to beanie cubes are being sold through mail-order catalogs and on-line stores. These compatible companies seem to know that collectors want to protect their investment. Even McDonalds has gotten into the act. For the last two years they lead a Happy Meal promotion that caused gridlock in their drive-thru window and their counters as hundreds of people lined up to get the “Teenie Beanie” they needed. Phones also rang endlessly at every McDonalds. Many resorted to recorded messages throughout the day, while some chose a more creative approach:+ “McDonald’s we got worms now. Crabs next.”+ “We ‘re currently featuring lobsters at this McDonald’s location.”+ “Hi, this is McDonald’s. We have dogs for sale.”The Beanie Phenomenon has also lead to its own language. Anyone who never heard of beanies would certainly feel out of place if they should happen to walk through a crowd of people asking about beanies. Their talk is peppered with words like: + Tush-tag: Which is a cloth tag that hangs form the bottom of the beanie baby, has the red Ty heart, and the year that the beanie was produced printed on it.+ Swing-tag: The red and black or a red and gold heart shaped tag, which hangs from the beanies ear or back. The swing tag identifies the beanie by name, style #, birthday, and poem (example from the Princess Diana Beanie: Like an angel she came from heaven above, She shared her compassion, her pain, her love, She only stayed with us long enough to teach, The world to share, to give, to teach).+ Generation: Determines the year that the beanie was produced. Collectors use the type of swing and tush tag to determine exactly when it was produced, the early that the beanie was produced the more valuable it is.+ Teenie-Beanies: For the past two years, McDonalds ran a promotion that had a smaller version of the beanie babies in their Happy Meals. A promotion that was suppose to last four weeks, ended within one week, both times.+ Mis-tags: When the beanie accidentally comes out of the factory with the wrong swing or tush tag attached to it. This is a very rare occurrence and many collectors dig through piles of beanies to find a mis-tag.+ Variations: A variation is a defeat in the beanie itself. Some examples of this are beanies without eyes, arms, or missing something that makes it look different than the others with the same name,+ Retired: Two to three times a year the owner of Ty, Inc. decides to stop manufacturing some of the beanie babies. After he does this they become had to find and the prices of the beanies soar. This is one of the reasons many people collect. Nobody knows what is going to retire until Ty announces it on his web site.All these words have got something to do with the beanie babies.Many collectors, myself included, believe that beanies are here to stay. Beanie collectors love the fact that they never know what Ty is going to do. But they do know one thing, that is every few months he will stop making some of the ones they were lucky enough to get, and that he will start making some more. Beanies are very different from some of the other fads. Unlike Cabbage Patch Kids, which I have also collected, they are inexpensive. For the price of one Cabbage Patch Kid, you can buy anywhere from four to seven beanie babies. Whereas they may only be about 20 different Cabbage Patch Kids currently available, there are approximately 125 different beanie babies. I also believe that the fact that beanies are uni-sexual also guarantees that they will be here for a long time.