Video: Mattel's Fisher Price Makes Us Feel Young Again With John Goodman 'Let's Be Kids' Ad

You can go back to the Fisher Price world you remember with your own kids, John Goodman says in the brand’s first TV ad, aimed at boosting sales for the old-school toy line in a world of digital competition.

Mattel Inc. MAT is hoping the nostalgic ad for the nearly 90-year-old brand can help stanch slowing sales, which were down for the Fisher Price line and a couple other key Mattel brands in the second quarter.

Overall, second-quarter net sales were up for Mattel by 2%, and beat analysts' expectations. While Barbie and Hot Wheels were still hot, Fisher Price and American Girl declined.

The ad, called “Let’s Be Kids,” and made by ad agency Wieden & Kennedy Portland, first aired Sunday during the Emmy Awards.

“You lived here once. It was the happiest you’d ever been – you were once so happy, you passed out on a lion,” Goodman says as he walks through an oversized Fisher Price world, dressed as the farmer from the Fisher Price farms many American kids had a generation ago.

But a generation ago, Mattel didn’t have to compete with videos on smartphones, video game consoles and other electronic entertainment. The ad aims to convince parents that the analog fun they had as kids will still work for a new generation.

“You can always come back, this time with someone smaller,” Goodman says. “Everything’s exactly how you left it.”

Mattel's stock trades around $11 per share. Shares are down about 30% over the last year.

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