A little History of Yo-Yo's
Since the days of the depression in the USA, when the Yo-Yo craze swept America and kids all over the country entered contests and won bicycles and footballs, the Yo-Yo had been transformed into a precision instrument that can perform literally hundreds of tricks, both easy and very complicated.
Here in the UK, the Yo-Yo craze was part of a Coca-Cola advertising campaign, which had been run for over 40 years in just about every country worldwide, some several times. As a result of the Yo-Yo craze in the UK, Coca-Cola, at the time part of Cadbury/Schweppes, increased their sales and literally put their brand in the hands of their target Youth Market. Over 4 million Coca-Cola trademarked Yo-Yos were sold in a 10 week campaign.
Yo-Yo contests were held all over the UK and the final contest held at Alton Towers, presented by the late Jeremy Beadle. Here is the story of the 1989 Yo-Yo campaign in the UK.