IHSS HW: Blog Toys and Tipping Points: NERF Guns - Aiden C

IHSS HW: Blog Toys and Tipping Points: NERF Guns - Aiden C

Nerf guns. The toy I think we all had at one point. It started in 1989, with the Nerf Blast-A-Ball, a water blaster that shot nerf balls. Ever since then, the nerf brand has grown to be massive, and in almost every major toy store. These guns mainly spread because you needed one so you could play with your friends that had them. 

If your friend had only 1 gun, and you had none, you couldn't play. Secondary, these guns were advertized and designed so well, as well as being boosted by video games and movies with guns, that every kid wanted to be like the cool action hero on TV, and would buy a nerf gun. The entire design of the nerf gun was social, entirely promoted by your friends, video games, the TV, and many more places. 

They even made colors of the gun, partially so that boys wouldn't have to use pink toys and girls wouldn't have to use blue, because if people associated a toy with being for a gender, they would lose half of their customers. Thus, by making super-smart decisions, creating good marketing and designs, creating options for both genders as well as for everyone, and the genius idea of their product in the first place, they have even gotten me and almost all my friends and relatives to buy one. 

They have also created other items based around their brand, so I must admit that I even have a nerf dog toy now. This is an example of one successive brand that used their environment to their advantage to become super successful.


Works Cited

Christensen, Matt. “The Most Valuable Nerf Guns Ever Released.” Fatherly, 14 Mar. 2019, www.fatherly.com/gear/most-valuable-nerf-guns/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2020.


‌“Amazon.Com: Heytech 17 Pack Dive Pool Toys Blaster Torpedo Dive Rings and Diving Sticks Pool Dive Toy Set Gift 4 Water Blasters: Toys & Games.” Amazon.Com, 2020, www.amazon.com/dp/B07R781VHC?tag=mlb-pool-toys-20. Accessed 4 Oct. 2020.


‌Fagone, Jason. “How Nerf Became the World’s Best Purveyor of Big Guns for Kids.” WIRED, WIRED, 8 Sept. 2012, www.wired.com/2012/09/how-nerf-became-worlds-best-purveyor-of-big-guns-for-kids/#:~:text=In%201989%20came%20the%20very,out%20of%20a%20plastic%20tube. Accessed 4 Oct. 2020.


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