1996 Hasbro Sindy Baseball Cap - Do What??

This weird item made and distributed by Hasbro in 1996 and marketed as SINDY BASEBALL CAP SOFT DOLL  - I have no idea what the point of it is at all.

I mean if a child wants to take Sindy with them where ever the go, they simply pick up their Sindy doll and carry it around with them, or like my Son did with his favourite toys, sneak them into Mum's pocket or bag whilst she's not looking and make her carry them!

So why when they could do that would they prefer to wear a shocking pink baseball cap with a soft bodied Sindy doll stuck to the front of it?

And is it even removable for play? being soft bodied, it's not going to be very poseable and therefore they is really only a few scenarios I can envisage that you could place a soft bodied doll in for play... hmmm

Apparently, the doll / hat came with an instruction leaflet and fully clothed (as you can see from the pictures) ... but why did the doll appear on the market at all? 

I wish I could get hold of a copy of the minutes from the meeting in which they decided this would be a good gimmick to sell more Sindys, perhaps then I could find the answers to this conundrum

Another conundrum is... Did they actually sell enough of the first doll ; herself wearing a baseball cap - to make them think it was a good idea to make and market the second doll?!

Please don't quote me on the "which came first" answer I have provided, I honestly have no idea, but it seems to me that if you release a new concept in toys, you would explain it somewhat on the back .. like they have done to a certain extent with the "baseball cap" version. 

Whereas, if you then release another, you know consumers have already had time to get used to the idea, they understand the gimmick and so you don't need to explain it on the back of the packaging.

 Or it could just be that they wanted to update the packaging somewhat.

The first doll is displayed inside a flattened egg-like clear plastic bubble, whereas the second version is view-able through a more rounded bubble and she also comes with Sindy Tokens!

The back of the second one is far more basic in terms of the information on "how to play" it provides...

Yeah I know, "how to play" sounds weirder than the idea to wear a doll on your head, but hey it's the dolly equivalent of showing you how you can for example place some potatoes and carrots on a plate alongside your I don't know, Shepard's Pie maybe that food manufacturers keep  printing onto their "It doesn't really look like that out of the packet" ready meals, that I refuse to buy!

Personally I think this how to...serving suggestion thing is just a way to add a pretty picture, fill up space on the box and fool you into thinking you're getting a meal that actually looks nice.

 But I digress... and that's really why I prefer dolls to ready meals at least you know what you're getting when  you buy the doll!

She looks so uncomfortable all scrunched up in that tiny packaging, that I can't help feeling cynical and wondering if this was a cunning plan to make little girls feel so sorry for her that they are compelled to liberate her of the packaging!

But I much prefer to think it's an early-ish example of a Globally recognised company doing their bit for the Environment by cutting down on packaging and therefore waste, although it's more likely to be a "cost cutting" move.

Seriously.. How can she breathe in there, poor little person!

Imagine the cramp she'll have when she's finally released from her plastic prison!

A crooked neck too!

And here's what you could look like wearing her / it... looks great huh?

You definitely won't get bullied in the playground with this on your head!

I have to say though I do love how much these images scream 1990's, although why they do I can't put my finger on, I guess you just have to have lived through that time to understand my statement!

Ok that's interesting... there is a Hasbro Consumer Services Ltd. in Newport, Gwent or at least there was in the 90's.

 I'll have to make a note of that address, it may come in handy one day.

But never mind that, here's another version of this hat, doll, toy... Only this time she is capless.

Still squished into one of the most uncomfortable positions known to man!

Oooh Sindy tokens too!