The First Toy Ever Advertised on TV

Claim A says Mr. Potato Head was the first toy ever advertised on television. Claim B says a set of wind-up toy soldiers was the first toy ever advertised on television. Claim A is true, and Claim B is completely made up.

Back in 1952, toys weren't marketed directly to kids on TV at all — companies pitched to parents through print ads and store displays. Then Hassenfeld Brothers, later known as Hasbro, took a gamble that changed advertising forever.

They spent about $25,000 — a huge chunk of their marketing budget at the time — to air a commercial for Mr. Potato Head, a plastic parts kit meant to be stuck into real vegetables. It aired during children's programming, a completely untested strategy back then.

The gamble paid off spectacularly. Within a year, the toy sold over a million units, and suddenly every toy company realized kids themselves could be the audience, not just their parents.

This moment is widely credited as the birth of kid-targeted television advertising, reshaping how toys — and eventually almost everything else — got marketed to children for decades afterward.

Wind-up toy soldiers never had that landmark first-ad moment. There's no record of any toy soldier set being the first product marketed directly to children on TV — that milestone belongs squarely to the spud.

Would you have bet $25,000 on a plastic potato in 1952? Try guessing right before you scroll next time.