Mar 27, 2007

Teletubbies being marketed to tweens

Associated Press

Are tweens old enough to be nostalgic? We're about to find out.

Ragdoll, the company that created the Teletubbies, is relaunching the brand 10 years after the rainbow-colored techno babies became toddlers' first TV friends.

This time around, however, the creators are embracing the Teletubbies' innate kitschiness instead of fighting it.

The British-based Tubbies are invading New York this week, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office will proclaim Wednesday as Teletubbies Day. They'll hit Grand Central and the Apollo Theater, among other landmarks. A temporary "pop-up" shop on a hip block of Greenwich Village will sell T-shirts and loungewear bearing cartoonish versions of the colorful creatures.

And designer Isaac Mizrahi has created five handbags featuring the Tubbies that will be auctioned online to benefit autism charities. (The Web site is http://www.taketheteletubbiestest.com)

(Teletubbies and handbags have a bit of history together: In 1999, the Rev. Jerry Falwell declared one of the Teletubbies to be gay because he had the voice of a boy yet carried a purse. The Teletubbies always said that the purse was a "magic bag.")

Mizrahi said the Teletubbies "represent a Utopian perspective."

"There's no malice or competition in that world," Mizrahi said in an e-mail. "It's beautiful and green and I feel safe there. Also, I wish I had the capacity to project video on my stomach at will."

Of the revamped look and approach to the Teletubbies of 2007, Stacey Reiner, Ragdoll's director of licensing and new product development said, "We wanted to be able to have fun with the brand in a way that we didn't always do it. We're staying within the brand - they're cute and adorable but also have humor."

While the brand's roots are in preschoolers and they're still the biggest fans, Reiner says the new "teleterrific" image is targeting the high schooler who looks for fashion inspiration from Urban Outfitters or celebrity-favorite shops Kitson or Fred Segal in Los Angeles.

"We're saying Teletubbies are not just for toddlers anymore," Reiner said.