It appears toy giant Mattel has pinpointed the reason sales of its Hot Wheels brand haven’t grown over the past few years, and it’s not what one might expect.
The culprit, executives claim: clueless mothers.
We may be great at jazzing up dollhouses, whipping up goods in the Easy-Bake Oven and dressing up Barbie. And hey, we can probably even figure out how to turn a pile of building blocks into a fortress.
But the thing is, we just don’t “get” how to play cars with our boys. At least according to Mattel vice president Matt Petersen, who runs the company’s North American boys’ toys and games division.
“She doesn’t get why cars, engines, and all the shapes and crashing and smashing are so cool,” Petersen told Bloomberg Businessweek, noting this is likely because mom has never played with them.