Advertisers know all too well how to make us want their products, and it was no different back in the 1980s. Glossy adverts featuring amazing action figures, dolls, games and gadgets were everywhere, making it easy for us to write our present wish list at Christmas…
Below are 16 retro toy adverts that we believe will transport you right back to your childhood. How many the toys do you remember from when you were a kid? And which was your favourite? Please do let us know with a comment!
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1. My First Barbie was ‘specially designed to be your little girl’s very first Barbie doll… a Barbie doll that little hands can handle’, and we bet that many of you owned one of your very own.
2. With a brilliant tagline of ‘the power that seperates the men from the toys’, this advert saw He-Man defeating characters from Star Wars.
3. ‘Strawberry Shortcake, the lovable doll that smells like the berry in her name’, and we bet that many of you can still remember that smell.
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4. ‘Join the MASK team and discover the illusion’ read this advert, and you can be sure that our parents were ‘working overtime’ to be able to afford to buy us some of these vehicles for Christmas.
5. ‘The most games, the best games are only from Atari’ went the ad, and if we knew someone who had one of these in their home then they were our best friend forever and ever.
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6. Go-on then, which of these lovable Care Bears did you share your bed with?
7. A rather strange advert featuring (fairly badly) drawn versions of some of our least favourite Star Wars toys, but it still makes us long for the days where we could act out our adventures in a galaxy far far away.
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8. Featuring a range of My Little Pony toys you could dress up, this ad reminded us that the days of a pony ‘are filled with activity from morning until night’.
9. It’s not just girls that will get excited seeing this brilliant ‘Princess of Power’ advert, which for some reason only mentions She-Ra’s name in small print.
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10. ‘Where Christmas dreams come true’ read this Strawberry Shortcake ad, and we’re sure that many of you asked your parents for one come December back in the 80s.
11. So many Fisher-Price memories in one page, we hardly know where to start…
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12. I’m not sure we ever made Darth Vader or Fred Flintstone with Play-Doh, but it was still fun to play with none the less.
13. These Karate Kid toys were great, which one did you have?
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14. The size of Hot Wheels cars has decreased over the years, but our love for them has not.
15. This advert should have read ‘Lego, the toy kids will NEVER get tired of’, being that it is of course more popular than ever.
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16. Another He-Man advert that we couldn’t resist including, as it brings back so many lovely memories.
Be sure to spread some lovely, warm, nostalgic, toy-based memories to your friends and family by sharing this post with them!