Tickle Me Elmo

A "Tickle Me Elmo" stuffed toy.

Tickle Me Elmo is a child's toy from Tyco, introduced in the United States in 1996, becoming that year's top fad. Bright red in color and based on Elmo, a Muppet character from Sesame Street, when squeezed, Elmo would chortle. When squeezed three times in a row, Elmo would begin to shake and laugh hysterically. On its back is a velcro access slit, inside which the batteries are located.

In 1996, the Tickle Me Elmo was the "Must Have" toy. Many parents literally fought other parents in North American toy stores to purchase one of the toys for Christmas. The short supply of the toy, due to unexpected demand, meant that stores hiked the price on the dolls drastically. Newspaper classifieds even sold the plush toy for hundreds of US dollars. People reports that the USD$28.99 toy fetched as much as $1500.

A clerk at the Wal-Mart in Fredericton, New Brunswick was among those injured by "Elmo-mania". A crowd of 300 stampeded into the store on 14 December 1996; spotting him with one of the remaining toys, he "was pulled under, trampled—the crotch was yanked out of my brand-new jeans." According to People, the clerk "suffered a pulled hamstring, injuries to his back, jaw and knee, a broken rib and a concussion."

The vibrating laughter produced by the Tickle Me Elmo uses the same motorized device found in many cellular phones and used for vibrate mode.

Further Tickle Me toys

By February 1997, Tickle Me Ernie and Tickle Me Big Bird toys were released, followed by Tickle Me Cookie Monster in May. None of these toys achieved nearly as much fame, or sales.

The "Surprise Edition" of Tickle Me Elmo, issued in the Fall of 2001, was an elaborate contest. Five of the "Surprise Edition" Elmos stopped laughing on 9 January 2002, and announced to the people squeezing them that they had won a prize. The grand prize was US$200,000.

TMX

The new Elmo doll, announced at the American Toy Fair 2006, is called TMX (meaning Tickle Me (Elmo) Ten or Tickle Me Extreme). The full look of the doll won't be revealed until it gets onto shelves on 19 September 2006. Even the box it comes in is designed so that the doll can not be seen without purchasing it. A preview flap is included, but upon opening the Elmo giggles and says, "no peeking." It will require six AA batteries, and cost USD$40. Toy experts say that the delay is unprecedented, with only a few people in the media allowed to preview the product, all signing confidentiality agreements. In a promotional clip, Jim Silver, co-publisher of Toy Wishes magazine says "The first reaction I had was, 'Where are the wires?' Because I didn't think anything like that could move on its own."

Toy analyst Chris Byrne told USA Today, "This is a quantum leap forward, another breakthrough in the preschool plush category." Byrne believes sales will be high, but the reaction won't be as unprecedented. "The culture has moved beyond that, the whole hot-toy phenomenon." He cites the fact there hasn't been such a craze since Furby in 1998. However, some members of the media are expecting a large response.

Toys R Us stores have already began a pre-sale program for the doll, along with elaborate in-store displays with a digital countdown to the doll's launch.

Tickle Me Elmo in culture

While Elmo has been referenced to or seen in three episodes of The Simpsons, the doll version of the character made an appearance in "Moe Baby Blues". Elmo slaps Moe in the episode, after Moe tries to fondle him, yelling "No means no to Elmo!"

Tickle Me Elmo was the subject of an art exposition at the Ronald Feldman Gallery, in New York City, in September of 2003. Kelly Heaton, the artist, engineered a vibrating coat out of dissected Tickle Me Elmo dolls. The title of the show was Live Pelt.

Tickle Me Elmo has also appeared in Get Fuzzy. In the first cartoon, we find out Bucky Katt beat the stuffing out of it, causing $40 dollars worth of damage. Bucky explains, "It was laughin at me!"

An episode of Histeria! parodied the concept, as well as the fact that the teddy bear was named after Theodore Roosevelt, with a sketch revolving around a doll in the likeness of Richard Nixon, called "Squeeze Me Nixon".

The Movie (Jingle All The Way) is similar to the 1996 crazy of tickle me elmo in which the main character Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) Has to get a Turboman doll for his son on christmas eve but find out they are sold out so he goes to great lengths to get one.

End material

External links

• Wired: Elmo's Worth More Than a Tickle on the Surprise Edition
• Sesame Street: Tickle Elmo, an online simulation of the toy
• Live Pelt (link contains a nude image as part of the art exhibition)
• Elmoandfriends.com Ultimate Sesame Street Plush Doll Collectors Resource