Teddy Ruxpin. Furby. Tickle Me Elmo. Beanie Babies. These brand names are familiar to ‘80s and ‘90s kids who’d seen the commercials or print ads for them and ruthlessly begged their parents to place one of them under the Christmas tree. There is a four-letter F-word for these things: fads. Do fads really dissipate, as though they had an expiration date, or is it just the vision of some cynical person who desperately wishes Elmomania never happened?
Our fads discussion begins with Teddy Ruxpin, a talking teddy bear that was a hot seller in the mid '80s. Teddy would play special cassette tapes programmed with animation technology. The cassette tapes taught lessons, such as protecting yourself (“You’ve got to take good care of you,” the tagline of Ruxpin’s tape “The Missing Princess”) and enjoying learning (“Learning can be fun,” the slogan of tape “The Woolly Whatsit”). Intercepting signals from the tapes’ animation technology, Teddy’s eyes and mouth would move — almost like a real-life cartoon! Because Teddy was such a success, manufacturer Worlds of Wonder licensed and designed other talking characters: Mother Goose, Mickey Mouse, and Snoopy.
In an effort to compete with them, Ideal and Tyco produced StoryMagic Sesame Street characters with essentially the same functions. Although the original 1985 Teddy was discontinued shortly after Worlds of Wonder folded in 1991, several variants have been produced over the years in response to demand to “bring Teddy back." Furthermore, the character had an animated series. But the last version of Teddy Ruxpin was released in 2017 and was less popular. It was attached to an app that was dependent on the internet. As a consequence, people didn't like it as much, and a potential reboot from 2019 was cancelled before it aired. Teddy Ruxpin had definitely gone out of style.
Our next fad hails from a more hostile background and performs more annoying functions than the exceedingly wholesome, “bear-able" Teddy Ruxpin. In July 1996, Tyco produced the first 400,000 Tickle Me Elmos and delivered them to store shelves. When squeezed, Elmo would laugh hysterically. The more he was squished, the more he would giggle and jiggle. Henceforth, Elmomania was born in December 1996, and Elmo was crowned the hottest toy and the most arduous to find. People were arrested for squabbling over Elmo and beating each other up. At Christmas 1996, an individual Elmo, with an original retail price of $28.99, was sold for $1,500. In 2006, Tickle Me Elmo was later rehashed with a special version dubbed TMX, which either meant “Tickle Me Ten” or “Tickle Me Extreme.” Though fighting was not as extreme as it had been for the original Elmo, someone threatened another person with a gun to hand over a TMX. Eventually, Tickle Me Elmo was forgotten as people lost interest, even when two new variants were introduced. This fad definitely went out of style.
Our final fad was less irritating than Tickle Me Elmo, but its background was more sophisticated. Created in 1998, the Furby was the world’s first artificial pet. Entirely speaking Furbish, when initially bought, this unusual creature would later pick up English and begin to speak it more often the more the user played with it. The user could even train it to say certain pre-programmed phrases by rewarding it with positive interactions every time it uttered them, much like shaping a dog’s behavior.
Because the Furby was the first robot pet, demand for it skyrocketed during December 1998. Customers got scammed, paying for non-existent Furbys. Family conflict increased. An average Furby was resold for $100 instead of the original $35 price frame. In fact, classified ads listed prices of $300, and Furbys were often found online selling for two or more times as much. From different fur colors to new outfits, sellers assigned rarity values to assorted types of Furby. One particular Furby, “Tuxedo Furby,” was one of the rarest and most expensive. People were dummies to pay this much. However, Hasbro has fully restored Furby for the 2026 season (with a more reasonable price point) because lots of people like it yet again. There is also an "oddbody" and "long furby" fandom, and many still love the original 1998 and 2005 Furbys. The Furby fad has not gone out of style this year, although it will in a matter of time.
Based on history, fads can go out of style or linger on among the populace. It just depends on how warmly people welcome them. If they are greeted with open arms for years to come, as in the case of Furby, then more generations will adore them. If, however, no one likes new versions as much as the originals, as happened with Tickle Me Elmo and Teddy Ruxpin, then their popularity will rapidly decline. There can be such a thing as faded fads, but some fads will never fade if enough people enjoy them.
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