Editing Hasbro (section)

=== Hasbro Industries ===
The company had previously sold toys under the Hasbro trade name, and it shortened its name to '''Hasbro Industries''' on July 12, 1968,<ref name=":2" /> and sold a minor stake in the corporation to the public. The [[Vietnam War]] was at its height in 1969, so Hasbro redesigned GI Joe to be less militaristic and more adventure-oriented.<ref name=idch/> Its promotional efforts included the catchphrase "Boy Oh Boy! It's A Hasbro Toy!" in television commercials and print ads. Also in 1969, Hasbro bought [[Claster Television|Burt Claster Enterprises]] which produced "[[Romper Room]]" and had just begun a Romper Room toy line. A month-long Teamsters strike and Far Eastern supplier troubles caused the company to post a $1 million loss for the year.<ref name=idch/>

In 1970, Hasbro began a plan of diversification and opened the Romper Room Nursery School franchise chain to cash in on President [[Richard Nixon]]'s [[Family Assistance Plan]] which subsidized day care for working mothers. By 1975, the company had ended the nursery chain. Hasbro also entered the cookware field with the [[Galloping Gourmet]] line based on a television cooking show.

Two new 1970s toys were public relations disasters. One of the toys was named [[Lawn darts|Javelin Darts]] which were similar to the ancient Roman ''[[plumbata]]''. On December 19, 1988, the [[U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission|Consumer Product Safety Commission]] banned lawn darts from sale in the United States due to their hazards as a flying projectile with a sharp metal point causing multiple deaths.<ref name="CPSC">{{cite web |url=https://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/PRHTML97/97122.html |title=Lawn Darts Are Banned and Should Be Destroyed |access-date=January 25, 2011 |date=May 15, 1997 |publisher=U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission |quote=Pointed lawn darts, intended for use in an outdoor game, have been responsible for the deaths of three children. The most recent injury occurred last week in Elkhart, Ind., when a 7-year-old boy suffered a brain injury after a lawn dart pierced his skull. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101216065043/http://cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml97/97122.html |archive-date=December 16, 2010 }}</ref> The other toy was named The Hypo-Squirt, a hypodermic needle-shaped water gun tagged by the press as a "junior junkie" kit. Both were recalled. Romper Room and its toy line had continued success, although [[Action for Children's Television]] citizens group considered the program to be an advertising channel for toys.<ref name=idch/>

Merrill Hassenfeld took over as CEO in 1974, and his son [[Stephen D. Hassenfeld]] became president. The company became profitable once again but had mixed results due to cash flow problems from increasing the number of toys in the line to offset G.I. Joe's declining sales. Hasbro ended the G.I. Joe line in 1975 because of the rising prices of plastic and crude oil. In 1977, Hasbro's losses were $2.5 million, and the company held a large debt load. That same year, Hasbro acquired licensing rights to ''[[Peanuts]]'' cartoon characters. With the financial situation poor, Hasbro's bankers made the company temporarily stop dividend payments in early 1979. The toy division's losses increased Harold Hassenfeld's resentment regarding the company's treatment of the Empire Pencil subsidiary as Empire received lower levels of capital spending relative to profits than did the toy division.

With Merrill's death in 1979, Harold did not recognize Stephen's authority as the successor to the chairman and CEO position. As a solution, Hasbro spun off Empire Pencil in 1980, which was the nation's largest pencil maker, with Harold trading his Hasbro shares for those of Empire. Stephen then became both the CEO and chairman of the board. Between 1978 and 1981, Stephen reduced the Hasbro product line by one-third and its new products by one-half. Hasbro focused on simple, low-cost, longer life-cycle toys like Mr. Potato Head. Hasbro thus stayed out of the electronic games field which went bust in the early 1980s.

In 1982, Hasbro revived its G.I. Joe line with the help of [[Marvel Comics]], as an [[Counter-terrorism|anti-terrorist]] special forces team based on current events. Following an interest in [[Takara]]'s ''[[Diaclone]]'' and ''[[Micro Change]]'' toylines in the 1983 {{ill|International Tokyo Toy Show|ja|東京おもちゃショー}}, the company licensed the toylines and subsequently launched the successful ''[[Transformers]]'' toy line along with a [[The Transformers (TV series)|children's animated TV series]] two years later. With the toys and TV series being popular, Stephen Hassenfeld posed with the toys for a ''People'' magazine cover photo.

In 1982, Hasbro produced the successful toy franchise ''[[My Little Pony]]''. In 1983, they purchased GLENCO Infant Items, a manufacturer of infant products and the world's largest bib producer, and Knickerbocker Toy Company, a struggling [[Warner Communications]] subsidiary. Hasbro paid 37% of its stock to Warner, which was paid into Hasbro's executive-controlled voting trust, and also received a cash infusion. In 1984, [[Alan G. Hassenfeld]] took over as president from his brother Stephen, who continued as CEO and chairman. That same year, the company was the nation's sixth best-selling toymaker, and then acquired the [[Milton Bradley Company]], which was the nation's fifth best-selling toymaker. This brought [[The Game of Life]], [[Twister (game)|Twister]], [[Easy Money (board game)|Easy Money]], and [[Playskool]] into the Hasbro fold and on September 10<ref name=":2" /> transformed Hasbro into '''Hasbro Bradley'''. Stephen Hassenfeld became the merged company's president and CEO, with Milton Bradley chief James Shea Jr. taking the chairman position. However, the executives clashed and Shea left after a few months, and Stephen and Alan returned to their previous positions.<ref name=idch/>