Tuesday, November 27, 2012

UK Boy Band One Direction Greets Nickelodeon Contest Winners And Fans While Promoting Their Brand New 1D Hasbro Dolls In New York City, NY, USA; Participates In Questions And Answers Session With Nickelodeon Star Rachel Crow!

From Examiner.com:
One Direction promotes Hasbro dolls and greets fans at event in New York City

Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles Credit: AP - 8 photos; View the full slideshow

On November 26, 2012, One Direction attended a special event in New York City to promote Hasbro's latest One Direction dolls. One Direction did interviews and greeted winners of a Nickelodeon contest at the event.

As the biggest act to emerge from "The X Factor," Direction has No. 1 hits in several countries, but the group makes most of its money through touring (One Direction tours sell out in minutes) and merchandising.

View slideshow: One Direction promotes Hasbro dolls in New York City

One Direction's members (Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson) originally auditioned for "The X Factor" U.K. in 2010 as solo singers but were rejected as solo singers and put together in a group by "X Factor" executive producer Simon Cowell and other "X Factor" decision makers. Cowell was One Direction's mentor on the show. After One Direction came in third place on "The X Factor" U.K. in 2010, Cowell signed the group to Syco Music, the record company that he co-owns with Sony Music. And the rest is history.

Photograph: One Direction with their dolls at a Hasbro event in New York City on November 26, 2012. Pictured from left to right: Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik. Photo credit: AP

The new One Direction dolls from Hasbro are different from the One Direction dolls that went on sale in Europe in 2011. Hasbro's One Direction dolls are singing dolls that are dressed in the same outfits that One Direction wore on the group's first U.S. TV performance, which was on NBC's "Today" on March 12, 2012. Toys R Us reported that the dolls as are among the hottest-selling toys of the holiday season in 2012.

Winners from Nickelodeon's "Your Moment With 1D" contest met One Direction, posed for photos with the group, got autographed dolls and did a Q&A session with One Direction for Nickelodeon. Former "X Factor" U.S. finalist Rachel Crow (fifth place in 2011) is now a starlet at Nickelodeon, and she moderated the Q&A. In 2012, Crow and One Direction signed separate development deals with Nickelodeon.

Interview: One Direction - MTV intervew about Hasbro's One Direction dolls

J-14 magazine posted this report about the Hasbro event:

"The J-14 editors spent their first day back after Thanksgiving break in the best way possible -- hanging with One Direction! Between playing Truth or Dare, chatting about their new Hasbro singing dolls, and chilling in their Times Square hotel in New York City, we had so many awesome moments with the guys on Monday, November 26! Here are a few of our favorites:

"My favorite moment was watching the boys interact with each other. They're always feeding from one another's energy whether they're singing or chasing each other around the room. I also loved watching Liam singing a quote from my favorite holiday movie, 'Elf,' 'I'm in a store and I'm singing!' while we photographed the boys." --J-14 Photo Assistant Nicole Mazza

"I loved when Liam, Louis, and Zayn switched clothes and shoes! I even noticed that Louis was wearing socks!" --J-14 Photo Director Danielle Kepler

"My favorite part of the day was getting to sit down and chat with Niall one-on-one -- literally! He hopped off his chair right away and insisted that I sit down while we talked -- what a gentleman!" --J-14 Assistant Editor Laura Knipping

"When One Direction was ready to pose for their J-14 group picture, Niall was off to the side eating a peach yogurt. Everyone was telling him to hurry, but I said, 'He's a growing boy, he needs to eat!' He smiled, lifted up his shirt, and rubbed his bare belly. What a Niall moment -- too cute!" --J-14 Editor-in-Chief Rachel Chang

"Before interviewing Harry, he came over and gave me one of his famous hugs. It was so heartfelt, in fact, that his arm kind of pushed into my throat and I could barely sputter a 'Hi!' Talk about getting choked up!" --J-14 Deputy Editor Ashley Spencer