As the movie Pearl Harbor opens on Friday, a multitude of companies are grasping at its coattails in hopes of siphoning off some free publicity. The Walt Disney Co licensed only two Pearl Harbor movie products, a Hamilton pilot watch and Ray Ban sunglasses, but that has not stopped the onslaught of World War II merchandise.
This month, video game designers introduced new titles, filmmakers released documentaries, magazines put out special editions and publishers reissued dozens of books.
But of all the companies looking to tap the "Greatest Generation" sentiment to help sell its products, few have as much riding on it as Hasbro, the world's second-biggest toy maker.
This week, the company released a new line of Pearl Harbor-themed GI Joe figures. The timing of course is pure coincidence -- wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
"Is there a movie coming out?" joked Brian Goldner, the president of Hasbro's US toy group, who then insisted, with a straight face, that the toy release was timed to Memorial Day, not the movie.
The push to revive GI Joe is coming at a critical moment for Hasbro, which has posted large losses for the last two quarters. As its financial problems became apparent last year, the company announced it would seek to become less dependent on volatile entertainment properties like "Pokemon" and Star Wars and try to rejuvenate the brands and characters it has long owned, including GI Joe.
Introduced in 1964, GI Joe was the first action figure and proved that companies could sell dolls to boys, so long as they called them something else. Joe began as a young boy's version of Barbie, equipped with a gun instead of a hairbrush and a Jeep instead of a Dream House.
As the fashion doll fueled Mattel's early growth, the warrior doll helped build Hasbro in the 1960s. Although Barbie remains both a best selling toy and the foundation of Mattel's business, GI Joe no longer does the same for Hasbro.
In recent years, GI Joe has been battered on all sides by competitors. Power Rangers, from Bandai and Saban Consumer Products, has been a perennial best seller, as have World Wrestling Federation figures made by Jakks Pacific and Star Wars figures manufactured by Hasbro. Last year, GI Joe was only the eighth best selling action figure.
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