Explorer 12 Press Ads

I came across a few old newspapers recently and scoured through them as a matter of course, to see if there was anything of interest. It was quite interesting to see the range of information tucked away. One of the most intereting finds was about the British Home Stores series of toys, Explorer 12. First of all, I came across the above advert from the late 80's in the Daily Mail, showing prices for the vehicles.

BHS EXPLORER 12 RANGE

In a copy of the Times, dated 1987, there was a business article about the launch of the range, inspired by Terence Conran, which contains a major typo, in that the range is clearly refered to as 'Explorer 2'!:

BHS unveils toy range with the Conran touch - The Times (London) August 25 1987

BHS, the former British Home Stores which, as part of Storehouse, has been given the Sir Terence Conran flair treatment, is launching a new range of toys from the Storehouse chairman's design team. The range will go on sale in October.

BHS sees it - at a time when Storehouse's future as a possible bid target remains unclear - as strengthening the BHS label in the store chain's drive to change its image and consolidate its position further up market.

The range of Explorer 2 (sic) futuristic vehicles built on a non-violence theme is aimed at the Pounds 140 million market represented by children aged between five and ten.

Mr Mike Williams, BHS's merchandise controller, said: 'There appears to be an arms race among certain sections of the toy industry for who can produce the next more horrific concept. Our children may love it but it has gone beyond reasonable levels.' The new range, he believed, would be highly stimulating while diverting children away from violence and destruction

Explorer 2 will be backed by Pounds 250,000 promotional spending.

Mr Denis Cassidy, Storehouse deputy chairman and BHS chairman and chief executive, said; 'The move on toys means that we are at BHS now in all the major areas building on our own strong brand.

More surprising again was a large advert in the Mail, for Woolworths, showing the repackaged version of one of the toys being sold as 'Explorer III' - This stand alone vehicle was not supported by any other of the range, or carried the figures. I have a copy of the boxed toy and it has neither BHS or Woolworths branding, but is shown as 'Supertoys'.

 Its essentially a standard E12 truck, but in a pearly grey colour as opposed to the blue/green of the BHS models.