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Kenner Products

Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, is an American toy brand owned by Hasbro. Kenner Products began as a toy company founded in 1946, going on to produce several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures for the original series of Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Batman as well as die cast models.

The company underwent numerous acquisitions and mergers throughout its lifetime, starting with by General Mills in 1967, which eventually spun it off alongside Parker Brothers in 1985 as Kenner Parker Toys, Inc. In 1987, Kenner Parker was acquired by Tonka, which in turn was purchased by Hasbro in 1991. Hasbro closed and merged Kenner's offices and products in 2000. The brand was reintroduced by Hasbro in 2010 with the release of Star Wars: The Vintage Collection.

Kenner was founded in 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by brothers Albert, Philip and Joseph L. Steiner. The company was named after the street where the original corporate offices were located, just north of Cincinnati Union Terminal. It was a pioneer in the use of television advertisement for the marketing of merchandise across the United States, beginning in 1958.

In 1962, Kenner introduced its corporate mascot, the Kenner Gooney Bird, and its company slogan "It's Kenner! It's fun!" for advertising. In 1968, the company commissioned Muppets creator Jim Henson to create an Easy-Bake Oven ad, which featured the Kenner Gooney Bird in puppet form. Later in 1969, the puppet would be repurposed as the Sesame Street character Little Bird. The Bird was phased out by 1974.

The company was purchased by the food company General Mills in 1967. In 1971, General Mills merged its Rainbow Crafts division into Kenner, bringing Play-Doh into the Kenner product line. In 1985, General Mills would spin-off both its Kenner and Parker Brothers toy divisions to form Kenner Parker Toys, Inc. The following year Kenner Parker sold off its Lionel Trains division.

Kenner Parker was acquired by Tonka in 1987. Under Tonka management, Kenner Products was reconstituted as a division. Tonka (including Kenner) was purchased by the toy company Hasbro in mid-1991. Hasbro closed the Cincinnati offices of Kenner in 2000, and Kenner's product lines were merged into Hasbro's.

One of Kenner's original products was the "Bubble-Matic," a toy gun that blew bubbles. An "updated" version was available at least as late as the mid-1960s. Kenner introduced its popular Girder and Panel building sets construction toy in 1957, the Give-a-Show projector in 1959, the Easy-Bake Oven in 1963, the Electric Mold Master also in 1963, the Spirograph drawing toy in 1966, and the Starting Lineup sports action figure collectible line in 1988.

Kenner Products obtained the rights to produce Star Wars action figures and playsets for the Star Wars trilogy from 1976 through 1985. After Kenner acquired the license to produce Star Wars toys when the Mego Corporation rejected it in 1976, Kenner popularized the 3.75 inch action figure that became an industry standard. Kenner also produced toys related to the popular 1970s TV series The Six Million Dollar Man and the 1979 sci-fi movie Alien. In 1981, Kenner belatedly entered the diecast toy car market, with a short-lived range called Fast 111's. The 1980s also saw the release of the "Fashion Star Fillies" line of model horses, a product discontinued by the end of the decade.

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