[Fred Broca]

So what is Hasbro's reasoning for not having G. I. JOE be U.S. military anymore?

[foxtrot27]

fear of being canceled I guess

[ActionDan]

To have a broader market than just the USA.

[foxtrot27]

They had a huge market worldwide in the 70s and 80s so that's not the reason

[Duke19821994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by foxtrot27

They had a huge market worldwide in the 70s and 80s so that's not the reason

Times change, there are certain countries that no longer want “America” in their products/programs/whatever-the-heck-you-are-trying-to-sell. It’s a sad reality

[Yeet]

The GI Joe team hasn’t been a part of the US military since 2008 with the 25th line. For the entirety of Hasbro’s Modern Era line from 2009 until it’s end in 2016 (we are excluding the club because it wasn’t Hasbro), GI Joe was militaristic and was American, but they were never explicitly a part of the US Military. None of the vehicles had any US Military markings besides the Skystriker, which also included GI Joe logos to use instead, and only included the US logos so you can make it look like the classic one. Likewise, none of the filecards or other such info tied GI Joe to the US military. Yes, certain characters had military backgrounds, but that doesn’t mean the GI Joe team was in fact a part of the US armed forces.

Quote:

Originally Posted by foxtrot27

They had a huge market worldwide in the 70s and 80s so that's not the reason

Just because they existed overseas doesn’t mean they did well. They floundered and failed in Japan and China, and didn’t have a lasting impact in the other countries where they did better.
GI Joe had a market outside of the US, but it was never huge.

[DerStahlhelm]

GI Joe sold well overseas in certain markets back in the 80s..... Europe, UK, Brazil, Argentina, India... etc. But even back then those lines usually had the brand name/character names changed in some way and the ones that kept the GI Joe branding were changed to “international heroes” or something similar.
Back then, before the internet, it was much easier for Hasbro to simply license the tooling to foreign companies to make their own toy lines than to try to do marketing for all those different markets. Also without the internet and global interconnectedness we have today it was easier for those brands to be their own thing without it being generally known to be just the local version of some American brand.
Marketing is much different now than it was in the 80s and it’s now preferable for Hasbro to sell GI Joe internationally themselves and the branding will reflect that.
I know it’s the thing now to look for communist boogie men under every rock, but this is purely a case of capitalism, Hasbro wants those profits from international sales.

[ShadowNinja]

Why does it matter? With all due respect to those in the military past and present it is not the end of the world if they are not and due to how much this country gets worked up over all things military it might be better that way.

[nighthawk]

In Canada, it was just G.I.Joe. they didn't have A Real American Hero on the vintage products. All US flags were replaced by Canadian flags with the exception of Battle Corps Gung Ho and the modern stuff.

[Trigue]

One of the issues might be how the different branches of the US Military have trademarked every little thing related to them. The Marine Corps and the Army even had a little disagreement about a decade or so ago over something the Marines had trademarked and wouldn't allow the Army to use.