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The Care Bears are a group of multi-colored bears and characters created by American Greetings Corporation, LLC in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik. In 1983, Kenner turned the Care Bears into plush teddy bears. The Care Bears appeared in their own TV specials called The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings (1983) and The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine (1984). They also had their own television series from 1985 to 1988, in addition to three feature films: The Care Bears Movie (1985), Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986), The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (1987).
Each Care Bear comes in a different color and has a specialized insignia on its belly that represents its duty and personality. This insignia was known as their "tummy symbol." However, the movie Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! renamed them "belly badges". Adding to the Care Bear family are the "Care Bear Cousins", which feature a lion, rabbit, penguin, raccoon, monkey, elephant, pig, dog, cat, and other such animals created in the same style as the teddy bears.
In 2002, the bears were reintroduced with new toys. Made by Play-Along Toys, the new toys offered features such as illuminated bellies upon touch, aerobic bears, and glow-in-the-dark bears. As part of this comeback, the Bears have appeared in two computer-animated movies: Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot (2004) and The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie (2005). In 2007, the franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary; another relaunch took place, as well as the release of Care Bears: Oopsy Does It!.
In mid-2011, American Greetings announced a revival TV animated series titled Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot. The premiere of the series utilizes "30 years of caring". It premiered on The Hub on June 2, 2012.
As of 2014, Care Bears merchandise is still being marketed. During 2008 and 2009, Canada's Cookie Jar Group and France's MoonScoop Group attempted to acquire the franchise from American Greeting Cards, but with no apparent success.
Development The Care Bears were initially created in 1981 by Those Characters From Cleveland (TCFC), the licensing division of American Greetings. Jack Chojnacki, the co-president of TCFC, introduced the first Care Bear to six businessmen—three from American Greeting Cards, and three from the toy company Kenner—in February 1981. On the employees' reaction to the toy, Chojnacki recalled in early 1985: "It had a high 'aaaaaah' factor."
Muriel Fahrion, the artist who helped create Strawberry Shortcake's look, was also among the franchise's first concept artists. Working with TCFC Creative VP Ralph Shaffer, Muriel designed the first six bears, creating the best-selling greeting card themes for their belly graphics. Susan Trentel, Muriel's sister and doll designer of Strawberry Shortcake, designed the Care Bears plush. Once out of the concept stage children's book illustrator Elena Kucharik became the primary artist for the Care Bears creating hundreds of full color illustrations for cards, books and a myriad of licensed products. TCFC's creative team of artists and writers worked to create numerous characters in the line, which was a joint development by Those Characters From Cleveland and MAD (Marketing and Design Service of the toy group of General Mills).
As they had done with Strawberry Shortcake, once titled "Project I", American Greeting Cards, called the Care Bears development "Project II" as they strove to make the character program secret until advertising was ready. At the start of the franchise, Care Bears was already established as its working title.
Launch and success On September 24, 1982, the Care Bears franchise was launched in New York City before members of the area's Society of Security Analysts. Attending the event were American Greetings president Morry Weiss, and two employees of Those Characters from Cleveland: Jack Chojnacki and senior vice-president Henry Lowenthal. Eventually, the characters were announced as a toyline for production by Parker Brothers and Kenner the following spring, as well as pre-licensed characters and media stars. At that time, American Greetings touted their debut as "the biggest character launch in the history of retailing". On a US$5–6 million advertising budget and a wholesale commitment worth US$122.5 million, American Greetings introduced the characters to the general public in February 1983, with an appearance at New York City's Toy Fair; 26 licensees were involved upon launch. Among them was General Mills, a food company which owned the board game manufacturer Parker Brothers. In early 1983, Parker Brothers released six books featuring the Care Bears as part of its publishing division's first offerings. On television, the original ten Bears starred in their first syndicated special, Atkinson Film-Arts' The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings; Kenner produced and sponsored it.
The Care Bears are a set of characters created by American Greetings in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik. In 1983, Kenner took the characters and made the first in a line of very successful teddy bears based on the Care Bears. Over 40 million units were sold between 1983 and 1987.
Each Care Bear comes in a different colour and with a specialized insignia on its belly: for example, "Bedtime Bear" is pastel blue and sports a sleepy-looking anthropomorphized crescent moon, and "Cheer Bear" is pink with a rainbow insignia. A spin-off collection of toys, the Care Bear Cousins, feature stuffed monkeys, lions, and other such animals in the same style as the teddy bears.
The Care Bears television series ran from 1985 to 1988; three animated feature film spinoffs, The Care Bears Movie (1985), The Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986), and The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (1987) followed.
As of 2005, Care Bears are being marketed once more. The new toys offer features such as light-up bellies when pressed. As part of this comeback, the Bears' straight-to-DVD CGI debut, Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot, was released on October 5, 2004 to less than critical acclaim. Another such film, The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie, was released on October 18, 2005. As with the 1980s movies and television series, both films are produced by Nelvana Limited.
In 2004, the Bears appeared in their first PC game, Let's Have a Ball! The following year, they appeared in Catch a Star (also for the PC) and Care Quest (for the GameBoy).
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