34 FEATURE THE 1985 ARGOS CATALOGUE
The Argos catalogue from 1985 is a fascinating historical document. The average kid’s Toy Bible, its contents freeze frame a moment in time. Jon Salisbury revisits the scene of his inaugural year in the toy business, the same year that Live Aid took place, Ronald Reagan began his second term as US president and Marty McFly revved up a certain DeLorean...
1985. It seems like only yesterday to the more mature gentleman but it’s like viewing the Second World War from the distance of the 1970s. A lot can happen in 27 years and, boy, has a lot happened in toy terms. I’d inherited the editorship of a toy magazine in March of the year, but I’d had plenty of time to familiarise myself with the key toys that would be vying for Christmas success. Of course, toys weren’t the only things in the news. The death of Rock Hudson in October marked the hysterical zenith of AIDS paranoia, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros for the NES, the best selling single of the year was We Are The World closely followed by Take On Me by A- ha, Back To The Future was top of the box office and Man Utd beat Everton 1-0 in the FA Cup, with Everton taking the Division One title. At the National Association of Toy Retailers awards, Transformers was again Toy of the Year, with shortages of Optimus Prime, Waddington’s Blockbusters was Game of the Year. Boots announced it was to start the Children’s World chain, Hasbro purchased Action Man from Palitoy and Sindy from Pedigree (but both
FEBRUARY 2012
are missing from the 1985 Argos catalogue) and Hamleys was bought by Harris Queensway.
Leafing through the pages of that
year’s Argos book, many facts jump out to remind you of a more innocent era with less sophisticated marketing of playthings to children. Of all the products we have highlighted, only a few are still on sale today. Cluedo and Trivial Pursuit have stood the test of time in the games category, Barbie was sticking her chest out proudly, Lego had the construction toy market to itself, Star Wars was a licensed toy phenomenon and Transformers had just come to town – but that’s about it. Licensed product in 1985 was very limited compared to today. Pre- school licensing was almost non-existent and Lego had yet to chance its hand. You can almost count the number of
products on one hand: Star Wars, The A-Team,
Postman Pat, Roland Rat, Spider- Man and Knight Rider. The other noticeable difference between yesterday and today is how expensive toys appeared to have been. We have provided a price comparison with 1985 and what that converts to today. For
instance, Trivial Pursuit would be over £50 at today’s prices when you can actually pick it up for just over £30. Very few other products still exist today, so direct comparison is impossible. The modern Barbie or Optimus Prime, for example, bear next to no resemblance to their antecedents. With other items, you just know that you wouldn’t shell out over £30 for a Casdon cash register. Even if it did boast an LCD display...
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