“Licensing has become a coordinated professional effort . . . “
A 1982 newspaper article about Smurfs gives us another peek at the toy industry of the eighties, with Bernie Loomis getting a mention in the article by Jan Schaffer of the Knight-Ridder Newspapers. Even though a majority of the article fixates on Smurfs — Schaffer mentions that toy manufacturers initially hesitated on the license but were (at the time) “eager to cash in on the Smurfs’ growing popularity” — there’s some fun info in there for anyone interested in the history of the toy industry and licensing.
Oh. And Strawberry Shortcake makes another appearance:
“What we set out to do [with Strawberry Shortcake] was to create a permanent property,” said [Bernie] Loomis, one of her creators. With the extensions into non-toy items, such as lamps, watches, lunch boxes and furniture, her originators are comparing her development to the marketing success stories of Polaroid cameras, Levi-Strauss jeans and McDonald’s hamburgers.
Related articles
- Review – McDonald’s Changeables Quarter Pounder (1987) (battlegrip.com)
- This 1986 Transformable Lunch-Box Robot Patent is Fun! (battlegrip.com)