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American Morning

Evidence Since Attacks of 09-11 Say Americans Spending More Time at Home

Aired February 13, 2002 - 07:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: All the evidence since the attacks of September 11th say Americans are spending more time at home. For a lot of families, that means more time at home with the kids and the kids' toys. So even in the middle of a recession the toy industry is feeling optimistic about the coming year. The trick for manufacturers, showing their stuff at this week's International Toy Fair, is how to translate the mood of the country into sales.

CNN's Jeff Flock picked up the hardship assignment of looking at the latest at the toy fair here in New York. So, Jeff, what do you like? What are you playing with?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, Jack, I don't know who's staying at home. I don't think I am. But I've got one at the end that I'm going to show you that I think you will like, but that's fine.

I'm joined this morning at the toy fair by Chris Byrne, who's the resident CNN expert this morning. Go ahead, run me through them here. See if we can get Jack's attention with anything here. I'm over here. Who is this talking to me?

CHRIS BYRNE, TOY EXPERT: This is Hide and Seek Interactive from Ana Lark (ph). It's a cute kitty. You hide the kitty, press his paw, and then every 30 seconds he says...

(CROSSTALK)

BYRNE: He says, "I'm over here." When you find him he says, "You found me." It's a great new take on one of the oldest games of all time.

FLOCK: And it encourages children to perhaps listen and not make a lot of noise, which is always a good thing.

BYRNE: Exactly.

FLOCK: What -- now what about this one? Now dolls are a dime a dozen, but this one looks new.

BYRNE: This is brand new. This is baby Annabel (ph) from Zap Creations. One of my favorite dolls here at toy fair. And she's a little fussy this morning, so we're going to give her a bottle. And you can see that as she starts to drink her bottle her face moves.

FLOCK: Yeah, are we able to get tight in on the face, because that's kind of neat technology.

BYRNE: It's really innovative.

FLOCK: It's kind of scary, I think.

BYRNE: Well it's actually for little kids, and it just adds just the right level of magic and realism. And they love pretending. Oh, and there's the burp that's very real.

FLOCK: Now we're talking about -- Jack was talking about 9-11 and the impact thereof on the toy industry. What I'm seeing a lot of is police and fire play toys and all that sort of thing.

BYRNE: You're going to see a lot of that. It's a classic play pattern. Sorry about that. This is from Play Mobile, and they're all about role play. And for kids four and up, they really love pretending to be the heroes they see around them -- the policemen, the firemen. And what we found after 9-11 is they really want to create happy endings. That was what they really wanted to do.

FLOCK: So these things are big for parents and kids both?

BYRNE: Oh, Absolutely.

FLOCK: Got you. Now let's spice it up here a little bit and see if we can get things rocking and rolling.

BYRNE: OK.

FLOCK: What is -- obviously, we see remote control cars, we see remote control planes and helicopters. What have we got here?

BYRNE: These are the Insectazoids from Highlander Toys.

FLOCK: That's scary.

BYRNE: These are high-end robotic RC bugs, and they can fight, you can chase the cameraman. You can do all kinds of great things with them. Really great (UNINTELLIGIBLE). There's a nine-volt battery; really long lasting. It gets up to an hour of play on one charge, which is really amazing for RC. And we're just going to attack this guy.

FLOCK: Yeah, I was going to say, is this the family (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? We can make a show out of this, I'm sure. Well I think we are making a show out of this. But anyway, this thing does not look new, but I'm told it is. What -- this is a tricycle and you've got a handle on it so you can help push when they get tired, but...

BYRNE: Right. It's called the Steer and Stroll from Radio Flyer. And what's new about it is the parent is the one who's actually doing the steering. FLOCK: Oh, so I turn the handle, I'm turning the handle bars.

BYRNE: Right. It used to be a battle between the parent and the child sometimes, and now...

(CROSSTALK)

FLOCK: Now they have to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the thing...

BYRNE: Exactly.

FLOCK: ... and push it away.

BYRNE: The parent is still driving even though the child thinks they are.

FLOCK: All right. Now here's the one I think Jack's going to like. This -- and we try to typically stay away from this on CNN. But -- and I don't know who does this, but at any rate, this is what?

BYRNE: It's called National Trash, and it takes -- it takes everybody's fascination with tabloid headlines. You read them secretly in the supermarket. And it challenges you to create your own by the cards that you draw.

FLOCK: So you get pictures and then you make a headline.

BYRNE: You make a headline and your friends judge you.

FLOCK: Now I don't know if (UNINTELLIGIBLE) able to see this one. I don't know if this is a reference, Mr. Cafferty, to your career or mine. But, "My Life as a Psycho Television Host." I don't know, what do you think?

CAFFERTY: That's a story of Greta Van Susteren.

FLOCK: That could be.

CAFFERTY: All about Greta Van Susteren. I'm just kidding.

FLOCK: Right.

CAFFERTY: That's a joke.

FLOCK: National Trash.

CAFFERTY: Jeff got it.

FLOCK: Thank you, sir.

CAFFERTY: All right Jeff, tell you what, a pretty good selection. Now if you get over into aisle B in an hour or so, we'll come back to you and see what else you got, all right?

FLOCK: I'm headed there right now. Yes, sir.

CAFFERTY: Jeff Flock -- OK, at the toy fair.

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