Mr. Potato Head was the invention of George Lerner in the late 1940s. The idea was originally to have it be a prize in breakfast cereal so that the separate parts could be distributed as cereal package premiums. But later Lerner showed the idea to the textile manufacturers Henry and Merrill Hassenfeld, who did business as the Hassenfeld Brothers (later shortened to Hasbro). and they loved it,so they bought back the rights. When the toy was first manufactured, it came with 30 accessories.
When it was first sold to the public in 1952 it became the first toy to be sold through national television advertising and netted Hasbro over USD$4 million in Mr. Potato Head sales in its first year of production. In 1953, Mrs. Potato Head was added, and soon after Brother Spud and Sister Yam completed the Potato Head family. Although originally produced as separate plastic parts to be stuck into a real potato or other vegetable, a plastic body was added to the kit in the late 1950's.
In 1973 the main potato part of the toy doubled in size and the size of its accessories were similarly increased. This was done mainly due to new toy child safety regulations that were introduced by the U.S. government. Hasbro also replaced the holes with flat slats, which made it impossible for users to put the face pieces and other body parts the wrong way around. In the 1980s Hasbro reduced their range of accessories for Mr. Potato Head to one set of parts. They did however reintroduce round holes in the main potato body, and once again parts were able to go onto the toy the wrong way around
