Contrary to popular belief, the original 1979 Kenner ALIEN toy isn’t rare. Kenner made so many of these old toys, you can always readily find anywhere upwards of a dozen of them available on eBay at any time. What’s genuinely rare, however, is any print material Kenner produced to promote the toy. Listed on eBay today is one such item. Promotional brochures like these were provided to prospective retailers seeking information on (what was at the time Kenner’s unrevealed) eighteen inch tall movie inspired ALIEN toy. These brochures promoted and provided basic information to stores to aid in its wholesale interest for the toy to be stocked on store shelves in late 1979.
It’s a great item, too. Full colour on both sides and folded down the middle to become a large four page leaflet. One of the interesting features of this vintage document is it lacks any image of what retailers were being asked and expected to stock on their shelves in large numbers in 1979. There are no images of the ALIEN toy present on the brochure. At this stage of the movie’s pre-release life when this item was published and distributed, 20th Century Fox made no reveal of the creature at all, cannily and consciously concealing it’s identity from audiences until the release of the movie. This was done to achieve maximum shock value when the movie was released. This practice also extended to all commercial licence holders wanting to take advantage of the movie’s release. Curiously, within the interior of its folded page, this alert appears “CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS PREVENT US FROM REVEALING THE AWESOME SECRET OF THE ALIEN OR ITS FULL CONFIGURATION AT THIS TIME” making it a promotional brochure distributed without any images of the toy it was intended to promote. It’s difficult to imagine how retailers were inspired to stock these toys in any number under these conditions. They were just expected to do so following the runaway success of Kenner Star Wars merchandise that had previously wildly outsold all expectations.
A truly curious marketing relic. Bidding starts at US$9.99. CHEAP! …but not for long.
-windebieste.
