Toy Monster cover art

Toy Monster

The Big, Bad World of Mattel

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Toy Monster

By: Jerry Oppenheimer
Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

An eye-popping, unauthorized exposé of the House of Barbie

From Boise to Beijing, Mattel's toys dominate the universe. Its no-fun-and-games marketing muscle reaches some 140 countries, and its iconic products have been a part of our culture for generations. Now, in this intriguing and entertaining exposé, New York Times best-selling author Jerry Oppenheimer places the world's largest toy company under a journalistic microscope, uncovering the dark side of toy land, and exploring Mattel's oddball corporate culture and eccentric, often bizarre, cast of characters.

Based on exclusive interviews and an exhaustive review of public and private records, Toy Monster exposes Mattel's take-no-prisoners, shark-infested corporate style. Throughout this scrupulously reported, unauthorized portrait, you'll discover how dangerous toys are actually nothing new to Mattel, and why its fearsomely litigious approach within the brutal toy business has helped their products dominate potential rivals such as Bratz.

  • Introduces you to the larger-than-life personalities that have shaped Mattel's eccentric world
  • Offers an inside look - from an experienced author - at the scandals that have been a part of this iconic company
  • Jerry Oppenheimer is also the author of Madoff with the Money, an in-depth look at Bernie Madoff the man and his billion dollar scam

Engaging and accessible, Toy Monster shows you why today's toy business isn't always fun and games.

©2009 Jerry Oppenheimer (P)2009 Tantor Audio
Business Professionals & Academics

Listeners also enjoyed...

The King of Content cover art
Madoff with the Money cover art
Gallo Be Thy Name cover art
My Father's Business cover art
Leading Lady cover art
Moguls, Monsters and Madmen cover art
John Ilhan cover art
Masters of Enterprise cover art
The Deal from Hell cover art
The Sins of the Father cover art
The Price of Fortune cover art
Appetite for Self-Destruction cover art
In-N-Out Burger cover art
The Fifties cover art
Working Together cover art
Bitter Brew cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Came here after enjoying the Madoff book from Oppenheimer and found this very interesting. Didn’t know anything about the history of the ubiquitous Barbie of my childhood. A fascinating bit of history that seems so very dated in todays world. I recommend it.

A fascinating listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Correct heading for this book. Brilliant listen. Didn’t know any of this went on in Mattel.

Toy monster

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I don't know much about the story of Mattel and Barbie so this was interesting. However the writing got on my nerves by attempting to ram home the point that Jack Ryan is the real creator of Barbie by continously referring to him as "the father of Barbie." This made me suspect that this is biased and not the full, objective story.

Grating at times, potentially very biased

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.