GI Joe JFK Doll Unveiled
B O S T O N, Aug. 30, 2000 -- The new frontier in actionfigures dawned today as Hasbro Inc unveiled its“GI Joe John F. Kennedy: PT 109 Commander” doll at the latepresident’s library and museum in Boston.
“This is really a collectible,” Hasbro’s chief executiveAlan Hassenfeld said, adding that no more than 100,000 of thedolls dressed in World War II U.S. Navy khakis will beproduced. “After that the mould is destroyed. You have to betrue to the collectors.”
The Kennedy toy will retail for between $30 and $35. Aregular GI. Joe costs about $15.
The Kennedy Library and Museum, which initially hesitatedto approve the commercial venture, received an unspecifieddonation from the Pawtucket-based toy maker. It will alsoreceive some of the revenues from the sale of the dolls.
Reluctant DealCharles Daly, who served in the Kennedy administration andis stepping down as executive director of the presidentiallibrary, said he had refused several commercial opportunities“because most of them we didn’t feel were appropriate.”
He decided to approve the 12-inch doll after speaking withretired Gen. Colin Powell, the subject of the GI Joe Gen. ColinPowell action figure.
Kennedy is not the first president to be depicted by theworld’s No. 2 toy maker. The GI Joe line has included figuresof former Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Theodore Roosevelt.
Accepting American PublicMarketing experts said that to some extent Americans hadbecome inured to merchandising of its heroes.
“To some extent we’re used to it,” said Babson Collegeprofessor of marketing Carol Gwin. “You see Elvis’ face oneverything these days.”
Others asked whether Kennedy, who fathered the space raceand created the Peace Corps, should be portrayed in militarydress. Kennedy enlisted in 1941, in action off the SolomonIslands, where his boat was sheared in two and sank and he wascredited with saving the life of at least one of his crew.
“The average 8-year-old doesn’t know the differencebetween JFK and [former pro-wrestler and now Minnesotagovernor] Jesse Ventura,” Northeastern University professorBruce Clark said. “Hasbro is trying to capture and capitalizeon a piece of the Kennedy myth.”
“But, at the end of the day, such a doll will not really doany harm,” he said.