The greying of Mickey Mouse

A short supply of kids but a plentiful supply of oldies means if you are Walt Disney you need to take some drastic action.

With Japan's birthrate in decline, Disney has accepted the stark economics of the new market: the largest group of customers with the money and the time to spend a day on Splash Mountain or Pooh's Hunny Hunt is mostly retired.

To entice this burgeoning segment of society on to the rides the company is offering a cut-price season ticket for the over-60s and has made older people the park's new “core target”.

This got me to thinking of what other kids products might be re-positioned for their grandparents. Baby buggies morph into wheelchairs? I wonder what the makers of Barbie Dolls will do? Dick Stroud