There
were several articles about the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New
Series 1, and the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1 was
advertised in variety of publications. I tried to gather everything
I could find, so there would be full documentation on everything produced
for this release. I reprinted the articles I found online because
many of them are deleted after a certain amount of time.
In the June 2003 issue of the Previews
catalog on page 419 (see images above), there is a full-page advertisement
for United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1. This is one
of the first advertisements for the product, and it is mentioned in a
promotional letter from Topps (see the Promotions section above).
On page 420, there is a description of the various items in the release.
It is interesting that it is referred to as the 16th Series in the catalog
because Topps looked at the product as a new beginning for the Garbage
Pail Kids, which is why they refer to the product as the All-New Series
1 and started the numbering back at 1a/1b instead of at 621a/621b.
The graphic has "Featuring art from the unpublished 16th series!"
printed on it, which kind of hints that the product would be slightly
different than the original series.
From the ICv2
(Internal Correspondence version 2) website, I posted a copy of their
June
11th 2003 article on the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series
1 (see article above). The ICv2 website has news and information
about pop culture products. The beginning of the article has a little
background information about Garbage Pail Kids, and then it gives a general
description of the product, which was similar to the description in the
Previews catalog. A couple of sample images from the release were
also shown in the article.
The next article is from July 11th 2003
and was written by the Associated
Press (see article above). This article was published in several
magazines in newspapers. I was contacted by the author of the article
for an interview, but I did not get back to him in time to take part in
it. The article provides background information about Garbage Pail
Kids. There are a few quotes from the president of Topps,
Arthur T. Shorin, which gave me the impression that he really hoped the
release would catch on with kids. Mark Long, of the Bad
Fads Museum, provided a quote that kind of conveyed just the opposite
about the release. Originally, it was not the kids that ran to the
stores for the cards like Shorin had hoped. It was the veteran Garbage
Pail Kids card collectors that did. As time went on, the product
was slowly introduced to the target audience (kids), and the product did
catch on with some of them. A couple of sample images from the release
were also shown in the article including the Garbage Pail Kids character
Harry Potty, which was supposed to appeal to Harry Potter fans.
One of the best articles on the United States
Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1 was on pages 10, 11, 12, and 55 of
the August/September 2003 issue of Non-Sport
Update magazine (see image above), and I feel it is worth purchasing
the issue, which is why I did not provide the full text of the article.
The cover of the magazine had Garbage Pail Kids images from the release
on it. The article provides details about the history, the lawsuit,
the cartoon, the movie, the artists, and the release itself. There
are even a few pictures of the artists and samples of their artwork from
the release. The issue is definitely worth checking out.
The August
5th 2003 article (see article above) from ICv2 discusses the barrage
of media promotions for the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series
1. The article also mentions the promotions in DC
Comics and MAD Magazine, the Garbage Pail Kids contest, and the scheduled
release date of the series.
In the September 2003 issue of MAD
Magazine on page 23 (see image above), there is an advertisement for
the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1. The advertisement
says the release has a rating of PG (Pretty Gross) and shows what is in
each pack. It also has the website address to the Garbage
Pail Kids World website.
Another magazine I feel is worth purchasing
is the premiere issue of Entertainment
Collector (see image above). The article on pages 31 and 32
provides a brief amount of information on the history of the Garbage Pail
Kids but then provides quite a few details about the discovery of the
forgotten 16th Series artwork and the development of the United States
Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1. Tom Hultman, the editor of the
magazine, wrote the article. Tom also wrote articles about the United
States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1 for Tuff Stuff magazine.
The vice president of Topps, Ira Friedman, helped provide a lot of great
details for the article. There is a preview of the United States
Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1 with a detailed description of what
you get in each pack, and there is a simplified price guide for the original
Garbage Pail Kids series.
On page 6 of the Encore section in the September
11th 2003 issue of The
Telegraph newspaper (see image and article above), there is an article
about the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1, which I was
interviewed for. When I was interviewed for the article, I responded
in detail on a variety of Garbage Pail Kids topics. However, nothing
I e-mailed to the author of the article was used except my name, age (I
was actually 28 when the article was published not 27), and job description
(I am a website developer and programmer). I had been posting on
the message board (it was not a newsletter
like it says in the article) my findings as I had been going through boxes
of the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1. Darren
Garnick, the author of the article, read the comment I posted about how
fragrant the bubble gum was after I had put a full case of the United
States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1 boxes in my car, and he used
that as part of the article, which seemed unusual to me. Just in
case you were curious, the full quote from my message board post was,
"The interesting thing about the gum is that it smells kind of strong
still... I had the case in my car for a while, and when I got back into
my car it smelled like the gum... possibly, I can just put the bag of
extra gum in my car as an air freshener... just kidding." The
focus on Britney Spears and the Brittney Spews Garbage Pail Kids character
was also unusual. However, Britney just had kissed Madonna at MTV's
Video Music Awards about a week previous to the article being published.
The painting for 14a Little Barfin' Anna / 14b Brittney Spews was actually
created around 1989 for the 16th Series, and the original names used for
the characters were Little Barfin' Fanny and Bess Mess. He also
used the details from my Frequently Asked Questions
section about the Garbage Pail Kids based on famous paintings, and
he provided the website address to my Find
Your Name section. I was very surprised with the direction he
took with the article. The nice thing about the article was that
it helped promote the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1,
and it mentioned my website and the online presence of the other Garbage
Pail Kids websites.
In the September 26th 2003 issue of Entertainment
Weekly magazine on page 24 (see image above), there is a small blurb
about the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1. The
original release date mentioned in the blurb was off, but it is great
to see just about anything in print that mentions Garbage Pail Kids.
On October 18th of 2003, Topps sent out
a press release (see press release above) announcing a contest on the
Garbage Pail Kids World website where you could create your own Garbage
Pail Kids character. Everyone voted to see which character was the
"grossest". The character with the most votes would win.
The prize was a painting of the character. The painting would be
done by one of the Garbage Pail Kids artists, and it would also be used
for a future series of stickers.
The October
22nd 2003 article (see article above) from ICv2 discusses additional
promotions for the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1.
The article also mentions the contest to build your own Garbage Pail Kids
character at the Garbage Pail Kids World website.
In the November 2003 issue of Game
Informer magazine on page 192 (see image above), there is a blurb
about the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1. The
blurb mentions what to expect for the release. I really disliked
the comment about the Garbage Pail Kids artists. I am not sure where
the magazine got the $1.75 per pack list price ($0.99 is the correct manufacturer's
suggested retail price (see the image of the Previews catalog above)).
In the December 2003 issue of Tuff
Stuff magazine (see images above), Garbage Pail Kids were mentioned
a few times. On pages 25 in the New Cards in Review section, there
is an article with a short description of the All-New Series 1.
On page 121 in the Market Report section, there is an article with a blurb
that says how well the All-New Series 1 have been selling. Tom Hultman
wrote both of the articles (he also wrote the article in the premiere
issue of Entertainment Collector magazine). Also on page 121, there
is the Top Ten Cards listing, which shows the United States Garbage Pail
Kids All-New Series 1 (titled as Topps Garbage Pail Kids 16th Series)
as number 1. The Top Ten Cards is a listing that shows which card
sets were most in demand over the last month.
On November 10th of 2003, Topps sent out
a press release (see press release above) to help promote the United States
Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1. The press release mentions that
the series would be a good stocking stuffer for Christmas, and it also
says how successful the series has been.
Along with the November 10th 2003 press
release from Topps, they sent me the Garbage Pail Kids Online Edition
Extra #1 (see image above). The Garbage Pail Kids Online Edition
Extra is a quick summary of the news about Garbage Pail Kids. The
first thing that is mentioned is the VH1
special "I Love the 80s". I watched the special and saw
the segment about Garbage Pail Kids. The segment appeared to be
very contrived. It felt like the celebrities were shown things from
the 1980s and had to come up with something to say regardless of how familiar
they were with what they were shown. Besides showing some of the
cards from the original series, they also showed Garbage Pail Kids from
the All-New Series 1 (2003), which really did not go with the 1980s theme.
At least you got to hear Garbage Pail Kids being mentioned on television,
which is somewhat of a rare occurrence. The next thing mentioned
in the Garbage Pail Kids Online Edition Extra #1 is a quote from the December
2003 issue of Tuff Stuff magazine (the magazine actually came out a couple
months before December 2003) saying how well the sales of the United States
Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1 have been doing. The last thing
mentioned in the Garbage Pail Kids Online Edition Extra #1 is the pop-up
advertising on the Nickelodeon
website. The pop-up ads link to the Garbage Pail Kids World
website. Excluding the fact they are using the notoriously annoying
pop-up advertisement format, it was another good way to help promote the
product with kids.
In the November 10th 2003 press release
and in the Garbage Pail Kids Online Edition Extra #1 from Topps, there
is a holiday Garbage Pail Kids image. Diego Gonzalez, a Garbage
Pail Kids enthusiast, created Christmas ornaments using the holiday Garbage
Pail Kids image (see image above). Diego created a black and white
image based on the original image from Topps. He then used that
image as a template for sandblasting the picture onto the back of a glass
ornament. On the front of the ornament, Christmas 2003 was sandblasted
in a Garbage Pail Kids-ish font. The ornament has a diameter of
3" and is about 0.25" thick. Diego sent me one of the
ornaments, and it is one of my favorite ornaments to put on our Christmas
tree. Thanks Diego.
In the December 2003/January 2004 issue
of Non-Sport Update magazine (see image above), Garbage Pail Kids are
mentioned a few times. On page 8, there is a quick mention of the
Entertainment Weekly blurb and the possibility that there will be many
more Garbage Pail kids series to come. On page 59, there is a review
of the series that mentions their findings after they went through a box
from the first print.
In the January 2004 issue of Tuff Stuff
magazine (see image above), Garbage Pail Kids were mentioned on a couple
of pages. On page 117 in the New Card Releases section, there is
a short description of the third print of the United States Garbage Pail
Kids All-New Series 1. On page 120, there is the Top Ten Cards listing,
which shows that the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1
(titled as Topps Garbage Pail Kids 16th Series) is still ranked at number
1. Also on page 120, there is the Release Schedule, which lists
the release date of the third print of the All-New Series 1.
In the January 2004 issue of MAD Magazine
on page 23 (see image above), there is a parody of the Britney Spears
and Madonna kiss at MTV's Video Music Awards. The painting was done
by Tom Bunk and
was titled "Garbage Pail Kiss". The two characters, Bimbo
Britney and Menopausal Madonna, are literally tongue-tied similar to the
United States Garbage Pail Kids 2nd Series character 48a Tongue Tied Tim
/ 48b Marty Mouthful. The issue of the magazine covered the "20
Dumbest People, Events & Things of 2003", and at the time the
issue was put out Britney Spears and Madonna definitely fit right in there.
In January 2004, Topps sent me the Garbage
Pail Kids Online Edition Extra #2 (see image above). The Garbage
Pail Kids Online Edition Extra #2 has a promotion for the United States
Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 2. It mentions the MAD Magazine
"Garbage Pail Kiss" painting Tom Bunk did. It has a quote
from a Los Angeles
Daily News article saying that the sales of the All-New Series 1 have
been excellent at K B
Toys. It shows one of the All-New Series 1 banners (see the
banner in the Promotions section above) at a Wal-Mart
store that sold a significantly large amount of the product. It
also tells you about the Garbage Pail Kids T-shirts being sold at Hot
Topic and other specialty stores.
From the Youth
Outlook website, I posted a copy of their January 21st 2004 article
on the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1 (see article above).
I was interviewed for the article back in 2003, and there are some quotes
from me about the release and Garbage Pail Kids. The article contains
a more insightful perspective on the release compared to all of the other
publications because it has quotes from collectors and dealers that were
very familiar with both the original series and the United States Garbage
Pail Kids All-New Series 1. The article unfortunately did not seem
to make the print version of Youth Outlook magazine, which was disappointing.
In the February 2004 issue of Tuff Stuff
magazine (see image above), Garbage Pail Kids were mentioned on a couple
of pages. On page 111, there is the Release Schedule, which shows
the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 2 (referred to as Topps
Garbage Pail Kids 17th Series) in Early Spring 2004 and the United States
Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 3 (referred to as Topps Garbage Pail
Kids Series 18) in Late 2004. On page 120, there is the Top Ten
Cards listing, which shows that the United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New
Series 1 (titled as Topps Garbage Pail Kids 16th Series) has dropped in
ranking to number 2. The ranking also has a blurb about the upcoming
Garbage Pail Kids series in 2004.
In the March 2004 issue of Tuff Stuff magazine
(see images above), Garbage Pail Kids were mentioned on a couple of pages.
On page 111, there is the Top Ten Cards listing, which shows that the
United States Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 1 (titled as Topps Garbage
Pail Kids 16 Series) has dropped down to number 5 in demand. On
page 110, there was a small blurb from Topps about the United States Garbage
Pail Kids All-New Series 3 possibly being released in 2004. On the
same page, there also was the upcoming Release Schedule, which shows the
same information for the upcoming Garbage Pail Kids' releases as mentioned
in the January 2004 issue of Tuff Stuff magazine.
In the February 2004 issue of How
magazine on page 18, there is an article about the United States Garbage
Pail Kids All-New Series 1. The article has a few quotes from John
Pound and John Williams that give the impression that creating the series
was much more fun than it was work. The website address for Garbage
Pail Kids World was incorrectly listed in the article as www.garbagepailkids.com
(before April of 2004, the address went to The
Garbage Pail Kids Archive website) instead of www.garbagepailkidsworld.com.
The article probably should have been published closer to when the series
was originally released, but it is always nice to come across an upbeat
article about Garbage Pail Kids. The article provided an interesting
perspective and unique information about the release, and I hope the trend
continues with Garbage Pail Kids articles in other publications. |
