Tickle-Me Elmo

Tickle Me Elmo is a children's plush toy from Tyco Preschool, a division of Tyco Toys, of the Muppet character Elmo from the children's television show ''Sesame Street''. When squeezed, Elmo recites his trademark giggle. When squeezed three times, Elmo shakes and vibrates.

The toy was first produced in the United States in 1996 and slowly became a fad, reaching its apex during the 1996 Christmas shopping season, with some instances of violence reported over the limited available supply. ''People'' reported that the toy, which retailed for $28.99 according to its MSRP, was being re-sold by scalpers in newspapers and on the Internet for up to $1,500 by the end of 1996.

Development

"Tickles The Chimp", the precursor to Tickle Me Elmo, was invented by Greg Hyman and Ron Dubren, who had invented Alphie the Robot (a children's learning computer) several years prior. In 1995 it was presented to Tyco Preschool as "Tickles The Chimp," which was a toy monkey with a computer chip which laughed when tickled. At the time, Tyco did not have rights to make the ''Sesame Street'' plush, but did have the ''Looney Tunes'' plush rights. The toy was worked on for several months as Tickle Me Tasmanian Devil, and sold at the WB Studio Store in California. A short time later, Tyco lost the rights to use the ''Looney Tunes'' property in their products, but gained the rights to ''Sesame Street,'' thus leading to the creation of Tickle Me Elmo. The invention was originally introduced under Cabbage Patch at Hasbro Industries.

Neil Friedman, who was then president of Tyco Preschool, recalled years later that, "When you played with Tickle Me Elmo for the first time, it brought a smile to everyone's face. It was a magical surprise."

1996 phenomenon

Tickle Me Elmo was released in July 1996, with a supply of 400,000 units. The dolls sold well and remained widely available in stores until the day after Thanksgiving, when they suddenly sold out. With the Christmas shopping season approaching, Tyco Preschool ordered 600,000 more dolls from their suppliers. Promotion was helped by Rosie O'Donnell, who had shown the toy on her TV show in early October,; originally from the ''Boston Globe'' "Elmo got his big break in early October of last year with an on-air plug from talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell." although peak demand and stock shortages did not occur until nearly two months later.

The scarcity of the new toy provoked a shopping frenzy. Two women were arrested in Chicago for fighting over the doll, while in New York City some people ran after delivery trucks hoping to get their hands on Elmo before it reached stores. Someone allegedly purchased a Tickle Me Elmo for $7,100 in Denver. KBIG in Los Angeles had a radio auction for charity December 20, 1996; Bob's Pharmacy won and purchased a Tickle-Me-Elmo for $18,500. Robert Waller, a clerk working at a Wal-Mart store in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, was among those injured by "Elmo-mania". During a Midnight Madness sale on December 14, Robert was unpacking the latest shipment of Tickle Me Elmo, when he became uncomfortably aware of a crowd of about 300 people watching him carefully. He opened a box, pulled out an Elmo - and the crowd stampeded down the aisle. Trampled, he suffered "a pulled hamstring, injuries to his back, jaw and knee, a broken rib and a concussion".

By the end of December, the entire stock of one million "Tickle Me Elmo" toys had been sold.

Other "Tickle Me" products

In early 1997, Tyco released new "Tickle Me" toys based on other characters from ''Sesame Street'' – first ''Tickle Me Ernie'' and ''Tickle Me Big Bird'', then ''Tickle Me Cookie Monster'' – but despite good sales, none of these toys achieved as much fame as Tickle Me Elmo. With the re-release of Tickle Me Elmo, ''Mini Tickle Me Cookie Monster'' and ''Mini Tickle Me Ernie'' were also put on the market.

The Tickle Me Elmo Surprise, released in late 2001, was an elaborate contest. In its normal play mode, the player would have to find which spot on Elmo's body would make him laugh, using clues like "Elmo isn't ticklish there" and "Elmo's just a little ticklish there". These versions of the dolls came with an inbuilt real-time clock and would stop its normal play mode on January 9, 2002. Five of the dolls were programmed to deliver a message on this date that the owner had won a prize. The grand prize was US$200,000; other prizes included cars, computers, Power Wheels, and other Fisher-Price products.

TMX (2006-2007)

For the tenth anniversary of Tickle Me Elmo, Fisher-Price released a new Elmo doll in 2006 called ''TMX'', meaning "Tickle Me (Elmo) Ten" or "Tickle Me Xtreme". The toy, which was designed by Bruce Lund of Lund and Co. Invention (River Forest, Illinois), was first announced at the American International Toy Fair. Rather than simply vibrating like the original, the TMX rolls around on the floor, laughing and smashing his fist on the ground, begging for the tickler to stop.

The full look of the doll was not revealed until it debuted live on ABC's ''Good Morning America'' and arrived on store shelves on September 19, 2006. Toy experts said that the delay was unprecedented, with only a few people in the media allowed to preview the product, and only after signing confidentiality agreements. The packaging was designed so that the doll could not be seen without purchasing it. The box includes a preview flap, but upon opening, only the doll's eyes are visible. It requires six AA batteries and costs approximately $40. In a promotional clip, Jim Silver, co-publisher of ''Toy Wishes'' magazine said, "The first reaction I had was, 'Where are the wires?' Because I didn't think anything like that could move on its own.".

Toy analyst Chris Byrne told ''USA Today'', "This is a quantum leap forward, another breakthrough in the preschool plush category." Byrne believed sales would be high, but the reaction would not be as unprecedented. "The culture has moved beyond that, the whole hot-toy phenomenon." He cited the fact there has not been such a craze since Furby in 1998. However, some members of the media expected a large response. Toys "R" Us stores and Amazon had a pre-sale program for the doll, the first included elaborate in-store displays with a digital countdown to the doll's launch. Amazon took more presale orders than it could fulfill. As with the original Tickle Me Elmo doll, demand for the new toy gave rise to some extreme acts. One person in Tampa, Florida was allegedly threatened with a gun to hand over a TMX toy. This was parodied on ''Saturday Night Live'', which said the man "was subdued by the new 'Gimmie a Reason Bert'".

TMX and other toys helped Mattel's earnings for the third quarter of the 2006 financial year to grow by six percent and beat the expectations of financial analyst and Cookie Monster.

LOL Elmo (2012)

Playskool released the toy again as ''LOL Elmo''. Not a single image of the toy was revealed until the American International Toy Fair 2012; in the Hasbro showroom's Sesame Street section, there is a sign printed "Laughter Unleashed! Fall 2012". Above it was a video of kids giggling. The toy was released in September. It is also known as Tickle Time Elmo. Unlike traditional Tickle Me Elmo dolls, this one features a capacitive sensor on its tummy instead of a button, allowing the player to literally tickle the doll.

Tickle Me Elmo (2017)

Playskool made a new version of this toy once again but they made it part of their Playskool Friends lineup. Its behavior is like the 1996 version but has more phrases like "Elmo is one ticklish monster". This version released in August 2017. It could be found at Walmart, Books-A-Million, Best Buy, Target and Toys-R-Us, among others.

Tickle Me Elmo (2024)

Just Play made a new version of this toy once again as part of the Sesame Street toy Range. Its behavior is like the 1996 Tyco version but shakes more and has more ticklish parts. This version was released in April 2024. It could be found online at Amazon.

Legacy

Tickle Me Elmo helped the Children's Television Workshop recover from its financial problems that it had been dealing with since the 1980s, and also helped in boosting the popularity of ''Sesame Street'', which had been facing stiff competition from other children's shows throughout the 1990s. Likely as a response to this craze, the show began pushing Elmo to a starring role more heavily, a practice that is still done on the show today. This most noticeably resulted in the show dedicating the last few minutes of every episode to the character, beginning in 1998 with ''Elmo's World'', with three other Elmo-centric segments debuting on the show since then.

See also

* Furby
* ZhuZhu Pets
* Hatchimal
* FurReal Friends
* List of toys

References

External links

Wired: Elmo's Worth More Than a Tickle
on the Surprise Edition

CBS13.com: Elmo Demonstration
, video demonstration of the new Tickle Me Elmo

{{Sesame Street
Elmo
Sesame Street
Products introduced in 1996
1990s toys
1990s fads and trends
Fisher-Price
Stuffed toys
Tickling
Toy controversies