• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Friday, February 9, 2007 12 PM

The rejuvenated Care Bears--a concept of the Eighties that has racked up $1.8 billion in worldwide sales since being relaunched by American Greetings Properties in 2001--are being redesigned. The bears, with their motto of caring and sharing, are targeted to 3-to-5-year-olds.

The new look will be unveiled Monday at the American International Toy Fair in New York. The main goal of the redesign is to differentiate the bears from one another. After two decades of looking like androgynous clones, the core characters--Cheer, Share, Funshine, Grumpy and the newbie Oopsy Bear--will differ in more than their signature "belly badges" that show which feeling they represent.

American Greetings has booked a year's worth of events and plans to spend about $15 million to show off its stars. Among the highlights: a new computer-animated movie "Care Bears: Oopsy Does It!," set for release in August; a music video with a new theme song written and sung by Kay Hanley; and a float in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

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