The Topps Company, which has successfully revived its Garbage Pail Kids franchise (the first series of the new cards went back to press five times -- see "Scratch, Sniff, & Pass the Lysol"), has decided to bring back its classic Wacky Packages cards/stickers, which were originally launched in 1967 and enjoyed a remarkable run, which lasted until 1992 and encompassed some 18 unique series of cards. The Wacky Packages parodied TV commercials and the over-hyped consumer products foisted on the American public by Madison Ave. and network television. Cap'n Crunch cereal became Cap'n Crud in the world of Wacky Packages where Wheaties were Weakies ("Breakfast of Chumps").
Wacky Packages were an expression of the consumer revolt against modern advertising, an essential part of a continuity that stretched from the commercial parodies in Mad Magazine to the faux advertisements which have long been one of the best elements on the long-running Saturday Night Live TV series. In fact Stan Hart, a regular contributor to Mad, was the product manager for Topps on the first series of Wacky Packages.
In an inspired bit of
marketing, Topps is binding a sticker sampler of 3 new
Wacky Packages images into the May on-sale issues
of Mad Magazine (as well as the entire DC Comics
Kids Group (Scooby Do, Power Puff Girls,
Batman Adventures, Looney Tunes,
Dexter's Laboratory,
etc.).
Part of the appeal of the original Wacky
Packages was the painted artwork of Norm Saunders,
who also illustrated the classic Mars Attacks
cards.
Norm's daughter Zina will be working on the new
Wacky Packages along with Wacky (and GPK)
veterans Tom Bunk and John Pound.
Topps is including three different randomly
inserted Wacky Packages promo stickers in its
Garbage Pail Kids Series 2 sticker packs, which
will be in hobby, card, and comic shops by the end of
the month. Every kid who
buys GPK stickers is a potential Wacky Packages
customer as are millions of 30-50 year-olds, who
fondly remember these impertinent emblems of resistance
to the smothering influences of "consumer culture."
Retailers shouldn't neglect Topps' revived
Wacky Packages when thinking about counter items
for their stores this spring. Try a box and
you might be surprised at how many folks remember these
subtly subversive, gaudily colored, pictorial Bronx
cheers directed at Madison Ave.