Overview: CareBears

Following the success of their first big franchise (Strawberry Shortcake) back in 1979, American Greetings introduced the Care Bear characters in late 1981 through a line of greeting cards. Children's book illustrator Elena Kucharik did the original artwork for the cards. The line was a joint development by Those Characters from Cleveland, AGC's licensing division, and MAD (Marketing and Design Service of the toy group of General Mills).

As they had done with Strawberry Shortcake back when it was called "Project I," AGC called the Care Bears franchise "Project II" as they strove to make the character program secret until advertising was ready. At the start of the franchise, Care Bears was already established as its working title