Beanie Babies

http://www.your90s.com/beanie-babies/

You had them.  You loved them. You had to have them all. I think Beanie Babies really hit their peak of popularity when I was in the 4th and 5th grade - I even had some friends cash in on this fad and make a little profit off of beaded name collars for your favorite Beanie Baby (they were a hot item).  And then there were the special collector editions - I remember going on the hunt for the Princess Diana bear.  I think we picked ours up at a card show in our local mall - it was a hot conversation topic at school the following Monday.   We loved our Beanie Babies so much that my family invested in those beloved plastic tag protectors to keep everything in mint condition.  Also, I'm pretty sure we got the full collection of the McDonald's Happy Meal toys.  So, my family may have all fallen for it and spent far too much money on these toys, but there was something so sweet about finding out their names, birthdays, and bio on each tag that we had to make them a part of our family.

After work today, while driving to head out to my "spot" to go for a run along the lake, I heard a story on NPR's "All Things Considered" about how the creator of the Beanie Baby, Ty Warner, was charged with tax evasion.  He plead guilty today in court and owes a serious amount of money, $53.5 million, in addition to facing jail time.  And all for what?  It saddens me that I was duped.  Duped to believe that these Beanie Babies were created for me to play with and create memories with.  Ty Warner wanted me to buy his bean filled creations so he could put more money in his Swiss Bank accounts for financial gain.  I mean, I get now as an adult that consumerism is something that drives our country - we can't do anything without purchasing something.  Advertisements constantly swarm around us, attempting to target specific groups to get those people to buy those products.  I get it.  And for the most part, I'm OK with it.  I mean, I like to purchase goods that are geared toward me.  I think was saddens me most is his gain was at the expensive of children and their families.  I do appreciate Warner's willingness to plead guilty to the charges and him coming clean now, but it still is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

I can say, however, I haven't really thought about my Beanie Baby collection in quite some time... I'm sort of excited on my next journey home to Michigan to find the bin they're all packed in and say hello to the gang. So I guess, in a way, thank you Ty Warner.