Sea Monkeys Ads Comic Books
One of the ubiquitous and most intriguing ads that could be found in the pages of a comic book were those for sea monkeys an underwater family of weird little mammalian fish that you could keep all to your own.
Sea monkeys ads comic books. Read on true believer. Sea monkeys were intensely marketed in comic books throughout the 1960s and early 1970s using illustrations by the comic book illustrator joe orlando. Originally sea monkeys didn t sell at all. In the beginning we comic book.
George has the story of one fan who bought one which resulted in an er visit and 28 stitches. By jorge khoury sep 28 2008. Share share tweet email. First they were just miniature shrimp with an incredibly short lifespan.
If today s generation y and z ers accuse us baby boomers of being cynical and distrustful well i for one blame it all on comic books. You know how the story goes. There are a few upsetting truths about sea monkeys. How many of us who grew up in the 1960s and early 70s were.
Many purchasers were disappointed by the dissimilarity and by the short lifespan of the animals. Around the same time von braunhut founded transcience corporation to streamline the manufacturing and sales. It wasn t that no one was buying them it was that no one wanted to sell them so harold got the idea to place an ad for instant life inside comic books to market directly to kids. But if you look in older comic books you ll see a treasure trove of sneaky ads crazy claims preposterous promises and looney lies.
The impact these ads had on his imagination is spelled out in his 2004 short film flip about a boy who dreams of the wonderful life such 1 products could bring him. The comic book squirrel monkeys. Comics i was never going to be spider man no matter how i tried to swing from washing lines or scale neighborhood walls or tumble out of trees. Sea monkeys could be ordered by mail directly from the sea monkey headquarters.
Vintage comic book ads that were too good to be true. Long time comic readers might remember ads in the pages of 60s 70s comics selling live squirrel monkeys for only 25. My enthusiasm for imitating peter parker always ended in disaster and bruised limbs. We ve tried to bring you the worst comic book ads of the bunch.
The name instant life was replaced with the more market friendly sea monkeys a moniker inspired by the brine shrimps long tails and ability to live in water. Here are 10 of the most outrageous comic book advertisements ever. Demarais who is 39 became fascinated with mail order comic novelities as a kid in small town siloam springs arkansas where he s lived most of his life. Obviously being a superhero was not all.
An updated ad campaign began to appear in comic books in 1964.