To commemorate Throwback Thursday today, we harken back to one of our favorite obsessions: Beanie Babies. With the help of author Zac Bissonnette, whose book “The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute” is being released Tuesday, March 3, we offer you these five things we learned about life from those adorable little buggers:
1. Be an individual.
At the height of the Beanie Babies craze, more than a billion animals were sold and half of Americans had at least one Beanie Baby. The little animals contributed almost 10 percent of eBay’s total sales. Beanie Babies were thought of as an investment: A self-published price guide predicting what each animal would be worth in 10 years sold more than three million copies, according to Bissonnette.
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And yet, Warner’s lifestyle is threatened by his decision to hide a portion of his wealth in an off-shore bank account, thus evading millions of dollars in taxes. He pleaded guilty to a felony and was sentenced to probation, but the government appealed that sentence and there remains a possibility that he will spend a portion of his golden years in federal prison. Bottom line: Don’t let greed spoil your well-earned winnings.
5. Never be ashamed to cuddle with a stuffed animal.
Almost 15 years after the collapse of the Beanie Babies craze, the little animals that were once supposed to be the ticket to riches are back to being just little stuffed animals. But that’s not such a bad thing: Adults can benefit from the comfort provided by stuffed animals too. Scientists say so!
