On our seventh and final day of investigating vintage print material featuring the Kenner ALIEN toy we take a look at the 8 page, 1979 Kenner Christmas catalog.
The large articulated ALIEN toy was originally anticipated to be Kenner’s next big thing following their line of Star Wars product. It didn’t turn out that way and Kenner were left with a problem – how do you promote thousands of stock items that are unsuitable for the market they were intended? You understate it, that’s what. Let’s take a look at how this grotesque toy was promoted by its manufacturer at Christmas in their very own end of year product catalog.
The ALIEN toy was a massive faux pas for the company. By the time Christmas was due, the movie had been in circulation throughout the world’s cinemas for up to six months with its R rating – or equivalent – intact. It was well known by this time the movie was unsuitable for kids and it became obvious Kenner had a problem on their hands. To help minimise flak from parents, Kenner’s Christmas catalog reflects a reluctance to overly promote the toy.
Had the movie been released as PG rated, things would have been different. Both Star Wars and JAWS were released as PG rated movies and both had enjoyed excellent success with merchandise targeted at a young market. Kenner, with its 1978 release of 3.75 inch Star Wars figures; and IDEAL with it’s JAWS the Game in 1976 pointed to potential success in the market place for product based on a movie perceived to be “JAWS in Space”, a synthesis of both. Except when ALIEN was released, it was deemed unsuitable for children and was rated R. Had ALIEN likewise been rated PG, then full page promotions of the toy and other Kenner ALIEN merchandise would have been featured prominently in their Christmas catalog. It would definitely have featured on the cover. Of course, it didn’t happen this way.
As a toy manufacturer, Kenner was left with an embarrassing plight. How were they to promote a product they were heavily invested in but was unashamedly unsuitable for children – yet as such, it was still intended to be a children’s toy? The solution was a dilemma Kenner never fully resolved. Their Christmas catalog is indication of how challenged they were by their own product. Star Wars products dominate pages 2&3. Children’s toys of a generally tame nature make up the center spread on pages 4&5. Then the final 2 pages of the catalog, 6&7, largely promote dolls and other miscellaneous items. Page 8 closes the catalog with product listings and refund values.
It is on the second last page in the catalog you can find the ALIEN toy. It is displayed at the bottom right hand corner, tucked away with little to no fanfare or sense of Grand Pride usually reserved for Big Name Brand releases, on page 7. Did the toy appear on attention grabbing pages 2&3 usually reserved for such big, hot releases? Nope. Down the back, in the tail end of the catalog you’ll find a small, almost insignificant entry for the ALIEN toy. The 1979 Christmas catalog is full of playful items. Star Wars toys, girls dolls and other obviously child friendly merchandise characteristically gracing its pages; and then finally at the very end of the catalog, you will find the ALIEN toy. It is relegated to the closing position of all of the merchandise, almost as an “I guess this weird thing has to go in somewhere” afterthought.
It’s a marked and obvious contrast in ambience when you peruse the catalog, too. Kenner’s popular Star Wars items lead the procession of toys and are listed up front. Other items appearing in the following pages are generally tame and conservative. The ALIEN figure is last. Dead last. Although it is dismissed to the back of the publication, it still manages to stand out as an anomaly that clearly doesn’t belong among any of the other family friendly content.
Here’s the catalog in its entirety. It looks normal enough as you leaf through its 8 pages until the ALIEN appears on the bottom of page 7. It contrasts dramatically with all other product items displayed within the catalog and is clearly out of place. It is conspicuously weird and unconventional as it follows on from safe and ordinary product. Notably, instead of the ALIEN toy appearing on the cover/page 1, Star Wars items and other wholesome products are prominently displayed instead. While intended to be a major sales item for Christmas release, Kenner deemed the ALIEN toy inappropriate to appear on the cover.
The ALIEN product line (Toy, board game and movie viewer.) was Kenner’s major movie tie-in release in 1979. These products – among other unreleased items – were made to rival their own Star Wars merchandise line from the previous year. Being based on an R rated movie precluded the ALIEN licence from being a success for the company. The 18 inch toy was shunted to the back of their Christmas catalog instead of being highly promoted on earlier pages. In the following years, Kenner ignored the ALIEN toy completely – disowning it as much as possible for almost a decade until General Mills sold the company to Tonka in 1987.
-Windebieste.
