Fisher-Price is targeting nostalgia to sell 90s-style toys to millennial parents like a 'Lil Gamer' gaming console and a mixtape

• Fisher-Price announced three new retro-inspired toys for babies and toddlers.
• They include a boombox, handheld gaming console, and mixtape.
• Brands have been leaning heavily on nostalgia recently, especially as the window for feeling nostalgic has shortened.

Toy manufacturer Fisher-Price just introduced a set of retro toys that look like toddler versions of a boombox, mixtape, and handheld gaming console.

Fisher-Price says the toys, designed for babies and toddlers, were created by "taking inspiration from the '80s and '90s, and the current pop culture interest in all things nostalgia." Millennials, who grew up during this period, are widely understood by marketers to have "early-onset nostalgia," as Digiday calls it, and brands aren't afraid to tap into this feeling. The "Lil Gamer" gaming console toy even has a light-up screen, buttons, and a pretend game cartridge.

Read more: How brands like Chips Ahoy and Kraft are boosting sales by playing to people's cravings for comfort in the pandemic

In November, KFC brought back vintage buckets, and this January Burger King returned to a 20-year-old logo, with some 2021 updates. In October, Tanya Dua reported on brands like Chips Ahoy and AT&T bringing back old mascots to appeal to customers and offer comfort during the pandemic. UK media agency The7stars and market research firm YouGov found that the rate at which people feel nostalgia for the past is increasing, so the nostalgic period can be closer to the present.

Millennial parents are a perfect target for this neo-nostalgia. Many have posted about using Disney Plus to share favorites from the 1980s and 1990s with their kids. The Fisher-Price toys work in the same way, giving parents a way to introduce iconic pieces of tech from their own childhoods in an age-appropriate way.

Nostalgic toys aren't new. There are even teether Game Boys for babies. Fisher-Price itself has been leaning on nostalgia in the past year. In October, the brand created a virtual museum on Instagram highlighting top toys from each decade, of course with a gift shop so parents and grandparents could indulge in nostalgia more tangibly.