---
title: "Mashable: Build-A-Bear’s ‘Pay Your Age’ Promotion Goes Awry"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/433a8d16-1f43-4971-9037-41900a70f57a
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/mashable-build-a-bears-pay-your-age-promotion-goes-awry-2707141
category: "Specialty retail"
industry: "Retail"
segment: "Specialty retail"
topics: ["Marketing"]
published: 2018-07-18T17:12:21.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:38:48.753Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/f3f1d418eeca409ec185f115e14784fb6075.jpg
---

# Mashable: Build-A-Bear’s ‘Pay Your Age’ Promotion Goes Awry

**TL;DR:** Build-A-Bear's 'Pay Your Age' promotion ended in disaster due to overwhelming turnout and safety concerns, forcing stores to close. The company offered vouchers to customers who didn't receive a stuffed animal.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-07-18. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/mashable-build-a-bears-pay-your-age-promotion-goes-awry-2707141).*

## Story

St. Louis-based Build-A-Bear offered a promotion this week where customers could create a stuffed animal for the price of their current age, but many were left disappointed after stores were forced to close due to overwhelming turnout and safety concerns.

Mashable detailed how the promotion ended in disaster for the company as lines were closed full of empty-handed children. Customers who attended but didn’t end up with a stuffed animal received a voucher redeemable through the end of August.

“The response to our Pay Your Age Day event has been overwhelming and unprecedented in our 21-year history. … We feel it is important to share that, based on the information available to us before the day began, we could not have predicted this reaction,” Build-A-Bear said in a statement.

Maddie has spent her career in the media industry, serving in various editorial roles before migrating into a hybrid content strategy and PR role with No Limit Agency. Her passion for storytelling and love of writing help her create meaningful content on behalf of her clients and fulfill No Limit Agency’s mission to tell people-driven stories. Maddie is a graduate of Saint Louis University, where she studied Communications with a focus in journalism and media studies as well as Sports Business.

In her spare time, Maddie can be found exploring Chicago’s food scene, watching an NBA game or lamenting over her middling fantasy baseball team.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Retail (sector)
- promotion (topic)
- Build-A-Bear (company)
- store closure (topic)
- safety concerns (topic)
- voucher offer (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/mashable-build-a-bears-pay-your-age-promotion-goes-awry-2707141). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/433a8d16-1f43-4971-9037-41900a70f57a).