1980 / Television Commercial Demonstration

Since the purpose of Toy Fair is for toy producers to pitch and hopefully sell product lines to retailers, promotion is a big issue. Basically, the more advertising oomph a company can put behind its products, the more comfortable a retailer will be carrying it. After all, it's important for a product to be placed in front of the public eye. Here you see some buyers watching a demonstration of a television commercial on a monitor. While the product spotlighted isn't Star Wars-related (it's the Orbiter 6 Shuttle Command, also from 1980), the photo emphasizes a common practice at Toy Fair. In many cases, buyers are given the chance to review the TV commercials for the featured product lines.