The He-Man Effect: How American Toymakers Sold You Your Childhood

by Brian "Box" Brown

Brian "Box" Brown brings history and culture to life through his comics. In his new graphic novel, he unravels how marketing that targeted children in the 1980s has shaped adults in the present.

Powered by the advent of television and super-charged by the deregulation era of the 1980s, media companies and toy manufacturers joined forces to dominate the psyches of American children. But what are the consequences when a developing brain is saturated with the same kind of marketing bombardment found in Red Scare propaganda?


Brian “Box” Brown’s The He -Man Effect shows how corporate manipulation brought muscular, accessory-stuffed action figures to dizzying heights in the 1980s and beyond. Bringing beloved brands like He-Man, Transformers, My Little Pony, and even Mickey Mouse himself into the spotlight, this graphic history exposes a world with no rules and no concern for results beyond profit.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Comics, History, Business, Pop Culture, Psychology

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 11, 2023

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley, First Second and Box Brown for the preview to this work of graphic non-fiction, The He-Man Effect.

"We were psychological terrorists, with He-Man, [Mattel exec] Mar Ellis said at the time. We burned it into their little pea-brains. And we did"--Paul Cleveland, Mattel

I am a fan of Box Brown's work, and have read most of it. He follows his passions, the things he likes and grew up with. Tetris, Andy Kaufman, and toys/films. This book is pandemic-delayed by at least a couple years, Brown tells us in an afterword, mostly completed in 2019. It's a comics essay about advertising, mass media and the commodification of children's imaginations. His, too.

I have the feeling most people essentially know how to connect the dots now between capitalism, mass media and the selling of toys through mass media--tv, films, comics, cartoons, but in case you don't, Brown layes it out for us. He begins focusing on political advertsiing campaigns featuring Edward Bernays, who helped mount an American public opinion campaign to help the American right "fight communism." in Central America. Then the marketing of toys through movies, maybe beginning with Disney, the now unstoppable juggernaut, with its continuation of the Star Wars universe.

Brown is a nineties guy, so he gets deep--sometimes too deep--into the nerdy details of product development and placement. My eyes unfocused a few times later in the book after we are introduced to product after product. How do adults keep buying all this stuff? Nostalgia. We are already hooked on the drugs we began taking as children. We are programmed.

I thought I had begun to see a chink in Brown's anti-capitalist argument, as he increasingly reveals how he himself was bought and sold. by the mass media, entertainment and toy industry. He's losing his edge! But in a way that is the point he might have made much more explicit, that he likes all this stuff. He likes who he has become, a comics/cartoons/film/tv/toy consumer. He likes these stories--no, loves them and he likes who he has become through it all, though he shows us why he and we shoud be uneasy about it all

This is more a boys's toy book than a girls's story, I am aware in this summer of a Barbie movie. Girls stories and products barely mentioned, which might not have been as big a deal if Brown had made this more explicit. You'd think this is about the shaping of hyper-masculine, super-muscled American males, and it begins that way with Reagan and John Wayne and Schwarzenegger, but this angle gets largely lost through the deep and geeky love data dump of products later in the book.

I like how First Second details its marketing strategies up front. After all, they are engaged in a multimedia book promotion blitz of which I am now a part. Can a Box Brown action figure be far behind? Please? :) The fact that its produced and produced well by First Second means this is in part a YA book, to help young'uns see how they are being manipulated; in other words, enjoy, kids, but just know that your enjoyment was manufactured by corporations who care more about money than them. But do young people today care about He-Man and She-Ra? I guess we will see if they do. There are highly attended conventions for them. Can we be made to love and buy them? I think these corporations have well-demonstrated that they can and will.

Like I said, He-Man feels pretty much like old news to me, a three star book, but Brown is a great cartoonist and if I think of this as coming to young people for the first time, I think it is a 4 star book.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

"He-Man, G.I. Joe, and Transformers represented the first wave of characters in this new unregulated toy media landscape . . . Deregulation ripped the market wide open. Hasbro and Mattel had gotten the jump on the competition, but the cat was out of the bag now. The market became robust and competitive. It was a feeding frenzy for children's imagination." -- page 197

Hey kids! (insert Krusty the Clown voice here, if possible) If you're a Gen-Xer who grew up during the Reagan-era mid-80's and want to see your fondly-remembered childhood toys lovingly destroyed, look no further than author Brown's The He-Man Effect. Now, do I sound like Michael Jordan in the documentary The Last Dance? (You know, the meme-worthy film where he seemingly took many a perceived or slight offense as 'personal'? Check out the clips on YouTube.) Probably, but this was a depressing and preachy book in which the occasionally well-researched or little-known information was frustratingly overshadowed by the author's apparent intent to burn down the toys, TV series, and other merchandise - which also include Disney animated films, Sesame Street, and Star Wars to name just a few - that represented the birthday and Christmas presents and/or after-school viewing of an earlier generation. (It was more the corporate or big business atmosphere creating / controlling these properties which were the actual intended targets, but the line was soon blurred to the point of dissolving.) I know he relates in a post-script that he "is not a hater of these properties at all," but at times the previous 200 pages beg to differ in which a figurative flamethrower is taken to some previously-intact nostalgia. As for me, I'm just taking my action figures and going home. 🙁

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A depressing but lively look at how toy corporations have been grooming children for the past century to make them brand-loyal consumers whose nostalgia will keep them worshiping at corporate IP altars their whole lives.

The irony of course is that as Box Brown points out how nostalgia has made us marketing prisoners I spend most of the book going, "Ooh, I remember those!" as he discusses various toys and story franchises. And with his last few books about Tetris, Andre the Giant, and Andy Kaufman, Brown is no stranger to exploiting pop culture nostalgia for his own book sales.

Brown cites the Netflix "Toys That Made Us" documentary series several times. If you haven't had a chance, that show is as fun and enlightening as this.

[Urbon Adamsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completing this book took me a while, not due to its quality, but because it's dense with information, much like a documentary. My brain often needed a break to absorb it all before moving on to lighter material.

The title is still puzzling to me. While it suggests a focus on He-Man, the book delves into the evolution of media, particularly television, and its impact on young audiences across different generations, primarily from the 80s and 90s to the 2000s.

I've always known that cartoons like He-Man, which I watched as a child, significantly influenced my character. I've often shared this belief with those close to me. The book confirms that these shows were indeed created to sell toys, which I don't doubt. However, I also believe that the cartoons of that era had a moral framework that seems absent today. The creators appeared genuinely committed to producing quality educational content, with the resulting toy sales being a testament to the shows' excellence.

The book mentions not only He-Man but also Star Wars, Transformers, GI Joe, and others, though to varying extents.

Overall, it's an intriguing topic—one I was eager to explore, and I'm glad I picked up this book.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eighties kids grew up in an odd, free-for-all era in which cartoons were created for the express purpose of selling toys. The author re-examines his childhood loves with both a kid's starry-eyed enthusiasm and an adult's more measured, nuanced take.

Brown's criticisms of corporate marketing directed at children can put people on the defensive when they feel that the toys and characters they loved are being questioned, and he himself admits having these conflicted feelings himself. At the same time, the behavior of some of the corporations highlighted has been unfair, even ruthless. I suppose being able to see things from multiple points simultaneously is simply part of being an adult.

Fellow Eighties girls, if you were expecting "our" characters--My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite, Care Bears, et al.--to get equal time, you're in for a disappointment. These only get the most cursory of mentions. Brown speaks from his own experience, and that is of what was marketed to boys.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this book is not a surprise to anyone who grew up in the late 70s to early 90s. That children's television producers were actively marketing toys to kids during programming should be no surprise to the kids who watched the shows, or to the parents who passed through the room now and then. Even though I was within the age bracket to be affected by this, I found this book largely unimpressive. Maybe it was because the book focused most of its energy on TV shows marketed almost exclusively to boys: GI Joe, He-Man, Transformers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Although She-Ra was mentioned, no one I knew was interested in it. I think the message would have been more effective if the book had isolated one property, say Star Wars or Disney animation, and followed that exclusively. The artwork was enough--not particularly compelling, but sufficient to get the idea across.

[Tim Sicurella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and informative. So interesting to have a spotlight shined on a large part of what encompassed my childhood and how it bled into my adulthood.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a graphic novel about toy marketing and how it shaped our childhoods and impacts us even as adults. The author provides some history of 20th century advertising and propaganda before delving into the toy brands of the late ‘70s and the ‘80s and how they came about. From Star Wars toys to toys and cartoons of He-Man, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and others, the author looks at the business decisions that drove this part of our culture and how the business developed over time.

As a child of the ‘80s, I thought this was really fascinating. I had never really thought about the origins of these characters or the business behind them, but the author explores that and more, how they came to be, and whether they were good or bad (or both). Growing up with this culture already up and running, it just seemed like a fact of life, but there was intention behind it, and it was designed for profit. I think the question I’m left with is, does the value of this shared cultural experience make up for (at least in part) this influencing and manipulation? I didn’t agree with all of the author’s conclusions, but I’m glad I read this book as it was great food for thought and cultural analysis.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Box Brown examines his nostalgia for 80s He-Man toys and finds (unfortunately) the cruel grip of corporate America. The He-Man Effect is therefore a weird ride. It's 50% a history of various toys and related TV series and 50% a diatribe about how corporations are knowingly ruining our children's imaginations for money and profit. Half the book is fun nostalgia, the other half is the ugly reality of that nostalgia.

This makes The He-Man Effect a tough book to grasp. Just as you settle in to fun history, you find yourself reminded that 80s/90s children were essentially encouraged to be TV zombies so that Big Toy could have bonanza paydays. And yet, some of us turned out okay? Though Brown offers a dense bibliography, he doesn't put much actual statistical analysis on the page. It's more about feelings and vibes and the occasional "research shows." Essentially, the book will make you feel guilty for indulging in nostalgia, but at the same time, the book reminds you that nostalgia is an innate human trait that can't be avoided. So...what to do??? sigh

[Nakedfartbarfer]

Even better than this book is reading all the two-star reviews from indignant gen Xers who apparently haven't considered capitalism at any point in the last forty years and are being ambushed (in comic form, no less-- an even more poignant betrayal) with the origins of pop culture for the first time. I hold all of our universa cinematic against them. These are the same folks who, while being too young for Vietnam and too old to graduate into a recession, want to appear Tough and Serious by posting things like "you can never break me, I watched the Challenger explosion LIVE in my classroom" and "point of order: it is very punk rock to vote" 🗳️🇺🇸

It takes a Potemkin village to raise an 80s child, so don't come between them and the marketed ephemera of their youth. If you know a 49 year-old neonate who needs pacifying, maybe offer them some alternative means of comfort: they often respond well to memes with extra long captions :)

[Michael Bongiorno · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reductive and preachy, while delivering its message with a glib “i’m blowing your mind” vibe that feels very freshman year college. I wish it had developed its emphasis on “imagination” a bit deeper, and relied less on unverified assertions like “we have less imagination because we were told what to play.” The fun of the book is seeing well known pop culture iconography translated into this minimalist art style, the art is having fun “playing” with these toys, yet the text is asserting that imaginative play is no longer possible. This speaks to either an irony at the heart of the book, or maybe, the book is trying to say that nostalgia is, in fact, okay. That’s the real problem here. The book is 90% vehement criticism, and 10% joyous celebration. It all comes off confused rather than complex.


TLDR: this comic is like having “The Toys That Made Us” recounted to you by an edge-lord.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talvez O Efeito He-Man seja o melhor quadrinho de Box Brown que tenha lido até então. Claro, muito tem a ver com o fato de que ele lida com um fenômeno que perpassou a minha infância: as empresas investindo forte, num capitalismo tubarônico, para atrair a atenção das crianças para um produto conjugado entre brinquedos, desenhos animados e histórias em quadrinhos. Para explicar tudo isso, Box Brown vai longe, desde estudos psicológicos sobre comportamento de dependência, a estudos sobre a nostalgia e a história mundial a partir da Segunda Guerra Mundial, bem como a origem da publicidade e do merchandising. Tudo isso para evidenciar como as empresas nos manipulam e nos tornam dependentes de seus produtos, sem se importar com escrúpulos ou com as consequências de um consumo desproporcional. Brown também demonstra como essas empresas se viraram quando legislações mais humanas começaram a apertar o cerco contra elas, como as sindicalizações e os direitos de copyright. O Efeito He-Man não é só um ótimo quadrinho, mas uma leitura necessária para toda essa geração que foi manipulada durante sua infância.

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This looks at the history of marketing towards American children, in particular instances where toys were created first and then shows (thinly veiled ads, really) were created around them, like He-Man and Transformers. The book also mentions She-Ra, Disney, Star Wars, GI Joe, etc.

I wasn't always sure I really understood the distinction between companies realizing that a cartoon character is popular and putting out merchandise to capitalize on that vs. companies creating an animated show based around merchandise. Either way, an effort was being made to get children to convince their parents to buy things for them. The author definitely seemed to judge the latter more harshly than the former, however.

Overall, this was a bit choppy, and it wasn't always clear what the author wanted to say. For example, was he blaming racist reactions to new Star Wars stuff on the commercialization of childhood?

Lots of points were touched upon, but not always explored very thoroughly. Still, this was interesting, if a bit depressing, reading.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Giacomo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I nostri ricordi e la nostra nostalgia sono preziosi. Gli umani tribolano nella vita. Abbiamo bisogno di conforto e sicurezza. La nostalgia ce li fornisce. Ma può anche confonderci. Ci fa guardare indietro e vedere solo i momenti luccicanti, facendoci ignorare quelli oscuri. Può limitare la nostra prospettiva."

Ammazzare gli idoli dell'infanzia ed i suoi processi attraverso la loro riproduzione non stop. Il nuovo obbiettivo dell'industria massmediale. Tutto, sempre e subito.

Il gemello sul marketing del libro di Jancovici.

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers a lot, though it would have been nice to have the toys marketed to girls get more than a brief mention. I didn't realize how extensive the toy marketing was in our after school and Saturday morning cartoons. Judging from my husband's bins of old childhood toys, the marketing worked quite well!

[Erikka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an eye opener. While a lot of the content was explored in the awesome Netflix show “The Toys That Made Us”, it is laid out here in an elegant and concise way divided up by time period and cause and effect, not by brand. The two consumed together are synergistic and help to paint a very clear picture of the ends to which advertisers would go to influence my childhood and that of every other person my age. Late gen x and the elder millennials are perhaps the most nostalgic people I’ve ever met, and I’m not discounting myself from that group. But to know that planning was taking place behind the scenes to force nostalgia? To create a world where entertainment and advertising are not separable? To sell my brain and my history to the lowest bidder? That doesn’t sit right. I feel used. And to know that all of this, again, goes back to Reagan reasserts for me that living my entire life in a post-Reagan, neoconservative America is the worst possible timeline. Our world would be monumentally different and better without his meddling, discrimination, and deregulation.

[Vinicius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Não sei por onde começar essa review, mas para introdução a essa HQ, a seguinte frase define bem: "Nós marcamos em brasa os cerebrozinhos de ervilha deles" - Paul Cleveland.

Seguindo essa vertente, a HQ demonstra como o impacto da mídia e do marketing avançou ao longo dos anos, tendo como ponto de partida o Império Romano, com César fazendo propaganda de guerra, buscando apoio das classes mais baixas.

Nesse sentido, o autor expõe como a propaganda funcionou para alavancar o discurso pró guerra, criando um inimigo para os EUA e incentivando as pessoas a se alistarem.

Com base nisso, a HQ começa a adentrar em como a propaganda começou a ser direcionada para as crianças, principalmente com o advento da TV. Por conta da época, não havia regulamentação sobre os comerciais e demais programação. As indústrias entraram forte nesse meio, e começam a entupir a programação de conteúdos voltados para consumo, com produtos, alimentos e demais recursos com ícones dos desenhos, visando o consumismo das pessoas.

Assim, avançando no tempo, o autor vai detalhando como foram evoluindo as regulamentações de programação da televisão, como as marcas tentavam burlar essas leis e como o consumo foi se adaptando ao meio.

Dessa forma, o ponto que foi crucial que me fez identificar com o que estava sendo exposto, foi a cultura de massas voltada para o consumo de bonecos e produtos nerd e geek. O autor expõe fenômenos, como Star Wars, que fomentaram essa cultura de criar afeto por um determinado produto, e como isso molda a infância e a vida da pessoa.

Com isso, é trabalhado a questão da nostalgia, que as indústrias se apropriam do sentimento que determinado produto provoca nas pessoas, e visa moldar o consumo em cima disso, pautando o lucro.

Por fim, é importante destacar que a HQ é toda embasada em livros e artigos teóricos do assunto, com fundamentos. Toda a argumentação é fruto de um estudos, portando é ainda mais sensível quando paramos para refletir em como a sociedade capitalista molda toda nossa vida, buscando que nos tornemos consumidores de certa marca desde quando nascemos.

[emanu ✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,0 ★

acho que é um quadrinho bem informativo e interessante sobre o consumo desenfreado de brinquedos infantis, mas eu realmente não sou o público alvo dessa vez: 90% da HQ foca somente em brinquedos para meninos...

apesar do título ser "o efeito he-man", eu tinha em mente que trataria também sobre brinquedos femininos ao longo das décadas (e que, com certeza, trataria pelo menos do consumo das barbies) - no entanto, a leitura foi voltada majoritariamente para o que meninos consumiam e em muitos momentos fiquei perdida, às vezes sem nem saber exatamente quais os personagens que eram mencionados :/

recomendo para entender melhor como o sentimento da nostalgia foi fabricado pelo capitalismo, achei bem interessante!

[John Rodwell]

Very fun book with very keen insights about how numerous companies have leveraged numerous beloved intellectual properties against people when they’re kids as well as when they grow up and can spend their money on those IPs. It’s a story of American consumerism and materialism, and how the very same people who developed WWI propaganda were the same people who helped Walt Disney develop his marketing. And look at where Disney is now! They’re a professional hostage-taker of IPs and characters of which they dispense movies and shows and merchandise and toys to no end because they know they can.

This book also posits challenges: what toys did you have as a kid? Were you a target of sophisticated marketing schemes? When was the last time you experienced imaginative play?

A very, very good book.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely fascinating to me. Not surprising...as an adult it's very easy to see how these childhood favorite cartoons were just commercials for toys...but I loved seeing the history of how this came to be that was presented in this book. In no way does this make me feel less nostalgic for these shows and toys...I felt a great deal of nostalgia just reading this history...but it's really fascinating to me how things came about. And how different the future looks...and yet also the same. If you were a child of the 80s or the parent of a child of the 80s...I think this would be a really cool read. Highly recommend.

[Josh Boucher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable look at the ways corporations have used psychology to grab attention from children (and later, adults) and create powerful nostalgic effects that, ultimately, lead to purchases and influence our core identities. As Brown notes — and I would certainly agree from my own experience — no one is immune to this. I feel a lot of nostalgia for the cartoons and movies from my childhood. But perhaps it was, as he puts it, forced rather than accidental. What kind of person would I be if I had not been exposed to Star Wars, various video games, etc? I don’t know, but it’s worth thinking about.

[Carm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super fun look at propaganda, manipulation and mind control. I’m not even mad about it. That’s probably why I still read comics, watch cartoons and buy toys that tickle my child brain. It’s not arrested development… shut your face.

BONUS: This book reminded me that Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign slogan was “Let’s Make America Great Again”! Hmm… that sounds oddly familiar… I can’t quite put my finger on… oh well. Seems we’ve circled back to propaganda, manipulation and mind control, haven’t we?

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the more unique graphic novels I’ve read. It is almost like a media-literacy thesis told through the lens of a comic, which makes for an interesting blend of style and substance. A lot of what’s discussed here is also covered in The Toys That Made Us on Netflix, and the book rightfully credits that influence. Since I enjoyed that series, most of the material wasn’t brand-new to me, but I appreciated seeing it presented in a different medium. A quick read if you’re into nostalgia, toy history, or media studies.

[Bailey Lawlor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lost my first review to a crash, so probably a good sign I should keep this concise. This was a really, really enjoyable read that really kept me up thinking and reflecting on past experiences and memories. There’s a lot of sourced material as well that points towards other reading material and documentaries that I’m really looking forward to getting into. And I’m excited to read more of Brian Box Brown’s work since being introduced to it for the first time.

Would absolutely recommend to anyone interested in pop culture, comics, advertising or the general nature of nostalgia!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in the target demographic for this stuff in the 80s and have long some know that a good chunk of my favorite stories growing up were just glorified toy commercials, but it was interesting to see some of the history behind the scheme. And the author is right, nostalgia is no joke. This book gave me a lot to chew on.

[Fradalla · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'effetto del capitalismo bieco.

La tesi è molto interessante, purtroppo ho trovato la scrittura un po' farraginosa e lacunosa. Forse il medium migliore era un saggio?
Cmq veramente terrificante quello che hanno fatto / stanno facendo, mercificando pure i Ricordi.

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up in the era described by Box Brown and was fascinated by this look at the genesis of so many of the shows I watched. I feel the nostalgia for many of the properties he described so well and had never thought about how intentional this was. Engaging and fascinating stuff here.

[Diego Galvão · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um otimo documento histórico sobre a midia e venda de marcas e brinquedos. Só achei a narrativa um pouco cansativa.

[Stephen CM · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was kind of choppy but I did learn some interesting things about how media and toy companies have set out to colonize children's imaginative capacity.

[Felipe Beirigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKO DEMAIS. OS HOMINHOS A TELEVISÃO O PRESIDENTE REAGAN A PARANOIA ANTICOMUNISTA TUDO ISSO PRA VENDER BONEQUINHO. LOKO