USA TODAY International Edition
Fisher- Price opens a virtual museum full of toys on Instagram
Fisher- Price has created a virtual museum on Instagram to celebrate its toy stories.
The toymaker, founded in 1930, has created an explorable online archive with more than 90 exhibits organized by decade, including the rolling Snoopy Sniffer from 1938 and wearable Roller Skates, first introduced in 1983.
It’s an interactive experience your family can visit without leaving home. “We hope consumers around the globe take a moment, relive a happy moment in your childhood and remember what it was like when you got to be 3 and 5 ( years old),” said Chuck Scothon, senior vice president and global head of infant and preschool at Mattel, which acquired Fisher- Price in 1993.
“It’s a celebration of childhood and bringing adults back even for just a moment to something that was fun and exciting and just gives you great memories,” he said.
The idea for the virtual museum arose from the company’s actual museum at its East Aurora, New York, offices.
“Whenever we bring people to the campus they always find their decade,” Scothon said.
“You walk around until you see the thing you played with as a child.”
The online event – at @fisherprice.toymuseum on Instagram – made sense with the coronavirus pandemic keeping people at home and many businesses shut down at various times.
“The ability to put this on Instagram provides an opportunity for people around the world to share in that experience,” Scothon said.
And of course, the museum has a gift shop, too.
The digital store has 16 products, available in limited quantities celebrating Fisher- Price’s toy legacy including a T- shirt featuring one of the company’s earliest products, the Doctor Doodle pull toy, shoelaces in recognition of the roller skates and a Little People lunchbox.
In the museum, Scothon said, “if you are 8 years old – or if you are 40 – you are going to find something in there you likely played with.”