Don’t laugh, but bronies may be propping up one of America’s favorite companies
That peculiar Internet phenomenon called brony has received its share of derision over the years. But hold your repugnance, readers: Adult male fans of Hasbro’s girliest product may actually be propping up one of America’s favorite companies.
That’s one possible implication, at least, in Hasbro’s most recent earnings report, which saw big growth in the “Girls” sector. We don’t want to get bogged down in the financials of the whole thing, but suffice it to say that while many traditional pillars of the toy industry are flagging (Hasbro’s Playskool and many of its board games, Mattel’s Barbie and Fisher-Price), My Little Pony is doing well. Really well. In fact, it propelled Hasbro’s girls’ category to its first $1 billion year in 2013.
To quote directly from Hasbro’s most recent earnings release: “The Girls category grew 21% in the first quarter 2014. MY LITTLE PONY, MY LITTLE PONY EQUESTRIA GIRLS and NERF REBELLE [essentially a pink Nerf gun] contributed to the continued strong growth in the category.”
So Hasbro’s girls’ toys are selling like hotcakes (certainly in comparison to Mattel’s girls’ sales, which fell last quarter — Barbie alone dropped 14 percent). But here’s the intriguing question: Is it actually girls who buy them?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/04/23/dont-laugh-but-bronies-may-be-propping-up-one-of-americas-favorite-companies/
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