Mattel, Inc., is an American toy company. It ranks as one of the world’s largest toymakers.
Mattel was started by Ruth and Elliot Handler and Harold “Matt” Matson in a garage workshop in Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles, in 1945. The name Mattel is a combination of Matt and Elliot. The company first made picture frames, dollhouse furniture, cap guns, and musical toys. Mattel began advertising its toys—including a repeating cap gun called the Burp Gun—on Walt Disney Productions’ “Mickey Mouse Club” television series in 1955. One of the company’s most famous toys, the Barbie doll, first appeared at the 1959 North American International Toy Fair. Barbie’s fashionable outfits were sold separately. Mattel introduced another of the world’s most popular toys, the Hot Wheels toy racing car line, in 1968.
In the 1980’s, Mattel created animated television series based on two of its action figure lines. The series were called “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” (1983-1985) and “She-Ra: Princess of Power” (1985-1987). Mattel also obtained the rights to sell dolls and toys based on several popular Disney movies, including Cinderella (1950), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Toy Story (1995). Mattel has acquired many of its popular toys through the purchase of other toy companies. Such toys have included “ Sesame Street” toys, American Girl dolls, View-Master 3-D viewers, Power Wheels riding toys, Frisbee brand flying discs, Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, and Thomas the Tank Engine toys.
Popular Mattel toy lines since 2000 have included toys based on the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants, the Apples to Apples game, and toys from the “Harry Potter” book series. Other toys sold by Mattel include plush toys, games, a preschool toy line, and activity toys. Barbie remains among the company’s most popular toys. The company’s headquarters are in El Segundo, California, also near Los Angeles.
