By LUKAS I. ALPERT
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK
-- Somewhere, in a a junior high school locker, sits a faded
sticker: "Weakies, the Breakfast of Chumps."
Time to
scrape it off, and make room for a new generation of pop
culture spoofs. "Wacky Packages," the hot 1970s fad parodying
popular household products, is revamped and ready for the 21st
century.
In May, the Topps Co. will re-release Wacky
Packages with one eye on the nostalgia market and its other on
kids brought up in the computer age. The company hopes its
product can transcend time and the generation
gap.
"Poking fun at things, making parody, is a long
accepted form of entertainment and one we think transcends
generations," said Ira Friedman, vice president of new
products at Topps.
"But the question remains: aside
from the adult market, will it resonate with younger kids
today? We hope so."
Born in 1967, the "Wacky Packages"
were hand-drawn parodies done with Mad Magazine style-humor,
placed on punched-out cardboard with a lick-and-stick back,
and sold like baseball cards in a pack with a piece of
gum.
Early artists included pulp-novel cover master
Norman Saunders, who also created the Mars Attacks series for
Topps, and Art Spiegelman, who later won the Pulitzer Prize
for his illustrated holocaust narratives "Maus" and "Maus
II"
Everything was fair game. Jell-O became Jail-O -- a
metal file hidden in a jello mold and billed as Sing Sing’s
favorite dessert. Gravy-Train Dog Food became Grave Train,
with a picture of a dead dog and the grim tag line, "Your dog
will never eat anything else."
Topps even took swipes
at its own products, turning Bazooka gum into
Gadzooka.
Initially, the cards were not successful but
when they were brought back in 1973 as stickers they quickly
became the biggest thing since white rice (or Minute Lice, as
the stickers would have it).
"Anyone who was 7 years
old in 1973 who wasn’t really square was into this stuff,"
said Greg Grant, a University of Pennsylvania research
mathematician who also runs an elaborate "Wacky Packages" Web
site. "It was just life back then."
With their booming
popularity, New York Magazine put them on the front page, The
New York Times gave them a large spread and kids all over the
country affixed them to school desks and lockers.
"It’s
an inherently common pastime for kids to take a printed
sticker and -- as a from of expression, mind you -- put it on
something," said John Williams, the creative series manager at
Topps. "It’s kind of like graffiti, I suppose, just maybe not
as messy."
By 1976, Topps began running out of ideas,
and called it quits after printing the 16th series. Briefly in
early 1980s and again in the early 1990s, Topps came out with
new "Wacky Packages" series but they never took
off.
"Those ones from the ‘80s and the ‘90s sucked. It
was just too far into gross-out humor," Grant
said.
Oddly, the Topps folks decided on the re-release
after the success of last summer’s encore of the uber-gross
Wacky-Pack-successor, "The Garbage Pail Kids."
The new
series will feature art from some of the original artists and
with takeoffs on modern products like baboon-flavored "Chimp
Stick" (Chap Stick), "Mr. Coffin Casket Liners" (Mr. Coffee
coffee liners), and blue snazazberry flavored "Bling Pups"
(Topps’ own Ring Pops).
Completing the consumer angle,
the backs of the new stickers will feature fake coupons
offering savings like $2 on "Vinnie’s Brooklyn-English
Translator" or seven cents on an "Extremely Complicated
Straw."
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On the Net:
Topps, Co.:
http:www.topps.com
Grant’s Web site:
http:www.wackypackages.org
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