The Untold Truth Of The Easy-Bake Oven

just how many easy bake ovens have been sold over the years why did it take so long to get a gender neutral model how many kids got their fingers stuck in the doors keep watching as we dig into the history of this popular baking toy the first easy bake oven hit store shelves in november of 1963 just before the holiday shopping season according to good housekeeping the original easy bake oven used an incandescent light bulb to heat food up to 350 degrees fahrenheit it sold 500 000 units in that first year at a price of 15.95 which is over a hundred dollars adjusted for inflation according to daily dilish the initial design featured an extremely small oven and was available in a teal or pale yellow color easy bake by kenner over the years easy bake ovens have changed in appearance to reflect style changes of the time for instance in the 1970s you could buy an easy bake oven with fake wood paneling and an avocado green color in the 1980s a yellow mini microwave design was introduced after that came the purple and pink accent colors that remained the signature palette for many of the easy bake oven models released over the past few decades shortly after general mills purchased the toy maker kenner in 1967 we started to see betty crocker branded mixes for use in the easy bake oven at the time new easy bake ovens came with five miniature boxes of baking mixes and more mixes available to purchase as refills later according to good housekeeping betty crocker provided german chocolate cake and rainbow chip cookie mixes for the easy bake oven in 1973. having a company like betty crocker produced the mixes meant that the final products were closer to a recognizable dessert at one time coupons for betty crocker products were included with every easy bake oven sold models in 1969 came with a betty crocker cookbook too there was even a red betty crocker branded edition of the easy bake oven that came out ultimately the betty crocker and easy bake oven co-branding ended after nearly 20 years when tonka acquired kenner in 2007 the heat source used in the easy bake oven had to change to meet new standards in federal law specifically the passage of the energy independence and security act of 2007 forced the design to be altered according to reuters this law made it impossible to get 100 watt incandescent light bulbs starting in 2012. since this was the light bulb used in the easy bake oven hasbro needed to create a new version with a different heating source hasbro subsequently launched a light bulb free version of the easy bake oven and also offered some microwave oven-based baking sets for kids according to tastemade this redesign changed how you loaded the pan so that children had to use tongs to put the pan into a front loading oven this presented its own safety concerns as children could stick their fingers into the oven and burn themselves the 2007 redesign turned out to be a disaster for the easy bake oven according to the united states consumer product safety commission hasbro recalled about 985 000 easy bake ovens in february 2007 because young children got their hands or fingers caught in the oven's opening specifically the recall listed entrapment and burn hazards as the reason behind the recall the company offered a free retrofit kit in an attempt to remedy the problem but the quick fix resulted in more issues between february and july of 2007 there were 249 reports of children who had their hands or fingers stuck in the opening of the easy bake oven and 16 of the 77 reported burns were serious second or third degree burns in one case a five-year-old girl had to have her finger partially amputated as a result the company stopped offering the retrofit kit and simply recalled the faulty easy bake ovens in 2012 13 year old mckenna pope advocated for a gender neutral easy bake oven she wanted to buy her little brother an easy bake oven and was surprised that it only came in pink or purple according to time pope made an online video and a petition on change.org to get hasbro to create a gender-neutral version that would be more appealing to young boys like her brother many celebrity chefs including food network star bobby flay supported pope's cause and her petition eventually ended up with more than 40 000 signatures as a response hasbro announced the launch of a black and silver edition of the easy bake oven that was revealed in february 2013 at the new york toy fair as part of the design process pope and her family were even invited to meet with hasbro's design team plenty of toys have made an impact on kids lives throughout the years which is why it's so impressive that in 2011 time named the easy bake oven as one of the 100 greatest toys of all time it joined a list of other recognizable names such as the radio flyer wagon finger paint army men the hula hoop and barbie other toys launched in the 1960s that also made the list include gi joe barrel of monkeys etcher sketch light bright hot wheels slip and slide barbie's dream house and playmobil it's easy to underestimate the commercial success of the easy bake oven however the product continues to be a big seller according to the current easy bake oven owner hasbro more than 30 million easy-bake ovens have been sold since the toys launch in 1963. hasbro also estimated that sales of easy bake oven mixes have exceeded 150 million as the products are still available this number will only continue to grow as more parents purchase easy bake ovens for their families according to daily dot based on its sales performance the easy bake oven ranks among the most popular toys of all time easy bake ovens also have quite the pop culture following with appearances on many tv shows including prime time shows aimed at adults this includes mentions on fringe seinfeld and how i met your mother easy bake oven that's what i'm gonna call my van during an interview with oprah winfrey even former first lady michelle obama mentioned that she had an easy bake oven growing up oh i did have an easy bake oven but you know once you run out of the mix it's like you're done with it check out one of our newest videos right here plus even more mashed videos about kitchen gadgets are coming soon subscribe to our youtube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one [Music]

Channel: Mashed

Views: 33,782

Keywords: mashed, easy-bake oven, desserts, cooking, kids

Id: _7Tclga7468

Length: 6min 58sec (418 seconds)

Published: Mon May 02 2022