I often describe the 80s as the pinnacle of pop culture brand merchandising; a time when no promotional idea was off the table no matter how weird or nonsensical. Case in point, in the summer of 1984 Warner Bros., in conjunction with Amblin Entertainment, released Joe Dante’s Christmas horror masterpiece Gremlins in theaters. The merchandising push for the film was huge with a plethora of products and tie-ins like lunchboxes, toys, bed sheets, cereal, pajamas, and even candy bars. By far the weirdest promotion was a series of mini sticker sheet pack-ins with Scott Toilet Paper!
Don’t get me wrong, I think this is pretty damn awesome and I wish toilet paper companies still had these sorts of neat promo items. I mean we all have to buy it, so it might as well come with free stickers for the new Nick TMNT cartoon or Guardians of the Galaxy flick right?! But who exactly was this promotion aimed at? I mean kids aren’t making the TP purchasing decisions in the household and if I had to guess, anyone old enough to be buying their own TP in 1984 was probably not the target audience for this flick.
Anyway, there were four different mini sheets of two stickers available featuring Gizmo, Stripe, and Billy…
As a last thought on this promotion, considering that the toilet paper in the scan above has designs on it, how cool would it have been if the designs were of Gizmo and Stripe?! Gizmo caca, or Gizmo meet caca… ;)
Since it’s been awhile since I’ve been posting Peel Here columns regularly and Gremlins stickers in general, here are a couple of other sticker sheets I’ve added to my collection in the last few years. These were released by Hallmark back in 1984…
I love the slightly cartoon-y illustrations in the above sheet, though I think Stripe is way too chipper. And is he playing with the same little clown dolls that Rickey was playing with in Better Off Dead on Christmas morning? Weird…
This next sheet is all about Gizmo cuteness. It’s kind of hilarious how cute these sticker sheets skewed considering how demented the film actually is…
