The unexpected twist of Play-Doh: from cleaning product to colorful modeling clay
Joseph McVicker managed to rescue the family business that he thought was dead
Cincinnati, 1949. In a small office crammed with stacks of catalogs sits Joseph McVicker. He's just over twenty and has recently taken the helm of Kutol, the business his father had run until a few days before. Seated behind an old desk, he reviews figures that don't add up: sales are plummeting. The company manufactures a special paste for cleaning wallpaper, but fewer and fewer homes have coal heating, which means the walls aren't getting as dirty as they used to.
On the other side of town, his sister-in-law Kay Zufall, an early childhood education teacher, observes a very different scene. Before her, a group of children enthusiastically manipulate the same dough that in Kutol is already considered obsolete. Kay had read an article about Christmas crafts made with wallpaper cleaner and decided to try it in the classroom. The children pounced on it and began molding it as if it had always been made for them. She also noticed four other things: it didn't make a mess, it was soft, it wasn't toxic, and it was moldable with a pliability that clay had never offered them.
The next day, he told his brother-in-law. When McVicker heard the story, he realized that what they in Kutol had already given up for dead might not have had its last word. This is the unusual origin of Play-Doh, one of the best-known brands of Hasbro, the toy empire that in 2024 had a turnover of $4.136 billion worldwide. They market dozens of formats, from the packs From multicolored sets to themed kitchens, hair salons, or construction sites. But how did they manage to turn a cleaning product into an icon of children's play?
From the office in the schools
When Joseph McVicker saw the unexpected potential of his product, he decided to test it where Kay had seen it succeed: in classrooms. It was 1955 when, with virtually no budget but determined to save the company, he began visiting schools and daycare centers in Cincinnati to closely observe the children's reactions. The samples worked: the children repeated exactly what Kay had described. Furthermore, the schools requested more bottles for their classrooms.
That same year, McVicker took the product to an educational convention for school supply manufacturers. It was the first time the dough—still unbranded—had ventured beyond the local market. Above all, it was the pivotal moment when the first retailers took a new look at it. The very next day, the Washington, D.C., chain Woodward & Lothrop expressed interest and placed its first orders.
The product needed a name. Joseph and his uncle Noah considered "Rainbow Modeling Compound," but Kay and her husband had a more inspired idea: Play-Doh, a phonetic transcription ofplay dough"Too much to play with," in English. The product was a success. Encouraged by its acceptance, in 1956 the McVickers created a new company, Rainbow Crafts, dedicated exclusively to manufacturing and distributing Play-Doh. The first tubs began circulating in iconic stores like Macy's and Marshall Field's.
Television success
Television was crucial for Play-Doh's definitive breakthrough. Starting in 1957, the modeling clay appeared on popular children's programs such as Captain Kangaroo, Ding Dong School, and Romper Room. This turned it into a national phenomenon in just a few weeks. That same year, chemist Tien Liu perfected the formula by reducing the salt content, which prevented it from drying out and losing its color. By 1958, just three years after the initial trials in Cincinnati schools, Rainbow Crafts was already generating nearly three million dollars in annual revenue.
The success attracted the interest of major players in the industry. In 1964, Play-Doh began exporting to the United Kingdom, France, and Italy, and the following year General Mills acquired Rainbow Crafts for three million dollars. In 1967, the food giant also acquired Kenner Products, and in 1971 the two companies merged under the same umbrella. In 1987, the Tonka Corporation acquired Kenner and, with it, the Play-Doh brand. Finally, in 1991, Hasbro acquired Tonka and its entire product catalog. Since then, Play-Doh has been part of Hasbro and has become one of its most iconic brands.