FREE MONSTERS - Premiums & Give-A-Ways

[aura of foreboding]

  Great examples.  By the way, Sara Karloff sold Universal the rights to the Karloff Monster years ago, so Universal would have not had any issues with demands from heirs.

But, I am fairly certain, he can't be used in advertising like this.

[Haunted hearse]

I can't be sure, but when they got all rights, I think it would have even included this kind of advertising.

[BRICK]

Also, I think these cookies came out before her arrangement with Universal.

[aura of foreboding]

Also, I think these cookies came out before her arrangement with Universal.

Of course.  They are from 1998.  The agreement only came about a few years back.

I can't be sure, but when they got all rights, I think it would have even included this kind of advertising.

Sara Karloff maintains that she owns full rights to her father's likeness -- in spite of the deal.  So, yes, Universal can license almost anything they want with Karloff's image, but I think she drew the line at advertising (other than the use of the logo).  Otherwise, we would be seeing Karloff in the style guide, Karloff in the Pepsi cut-outs, etc.  There's a reason she can still claim ownership after the deal.  Universal can license it to manufacturers, but they probably don't have free rein to use it however they please. 

[The Creeper]

I'm surprised that no one has brought up these. The first is a mini-CD that came with the re-release of the Creature from the Black Lagoon movies on VHS. The CD contains clips from all three Creature movies, access to an on-line "Hunt for the Creature" game, and a cheaply produced featurette; a lame Predator rip-off, with a POV camera showing how the Creature decapitated and dismembered a squad of commandos. Obviously, this was an attempt to justify as to why fans would want to shoot their favorite amphibian in the first place. A question to anyone who might have seen this featurette: am I the only one who thought this terrain was WAY too dry for the Creature to haunt?



The next freebie was a Halloween giveaway from Papa John's from a number of years back. It's a DVD with Abbott & Costello meet the Mummy as well as a bonus episode of the Munsters. Sure, it's a no frills disc without chapters or trailers, but any time you have Universal Monsters, Abbott & Costello and PIZZA all in the same promotion, plus it's FREE, how can you possibly go wrong?





The next two items were not really promotional giveaways, but rather Universal Monster advertising displays that I acquired. The first comes from the original Universal Studios Monsters Classic Collection. It is the top part of the larger standee used to display the VHS tapes, with an artwork montage of some of the tapes in the series.



This final example shows the advertising artwork for the Universal Monster cookies from Nabisco. This is actually a translucent display that would be mounted at the top of the checkout lanes at a supermarket, in front of a light box. I'm guessing they cropped Frankenstein this way so they could portray him realistically, without having to deal without having to deal with any of the actor's heirs.

I do have that mini cd it came with my Revenge of the Creature vhs tape I bought!

[Monsters For Sale]

I found a better picture of the three glow-in-the-dark monster premiums White Castle gave away in 1992:





Here is also a lousy picture of the flyer from that Halloween:

[Monsters For Sale]

Chupa Chups 4.5 in. suckers were packed in Universal Monster bags and included monster stickers in 2000.  Sorry about the lousy pictures, but I have not been able to find much about these, or pictures of all 30 stickers. 

Were these widely available?




Notice that there are 2 different designs for Frankenstein and Bride bags.


Here is a closer view of one of the Frankenstein bags.  It has a picture of Sticker #7. Wolf Man.




The only sticker pictures I could found:

[aura of foreboding]

Fascinating find, Monsters for Sale.  I have never seen them! 

What is truly unique about this is that this promotion pinpoints the exact date of the transition from the 1997 stock art to the 2001 stock art!  Now, we know... In 2000, both sets of designs existed simultaneously.  Odd, but true!

[horrorhunter]

"Truth is stranger than fact."

     -- Archie Campbell, Hee Haw

[aura of foreboding]

"Truth is stranger than fact."

     -- Archie Campbell, Hee Haw

Truth.

[Monsters For Sale]

These King Kong cups were given away in 1976 by 7-11 Stores:

[Monsters For Sale]

This King Kong cup was given to visitors to Universal Studios in 1986:

[Monsters For Sale]

Arby's restaurants Gave out this nice-looking King Kong cup to celebrate the Konfrontation ride at Universal Studios, Florida.  I have this listed as 1976, but since I do not have the item in hand, I wonder if the ride really opened the same time as the movie?

[Haunted hearse]

These King Kong cups were given away in 1976 by 7-11 Stores:

That looks like an admission that the Willis O'Brien film was superior to Dino's.

[Monsters For Sale]

With the release of Godzilla in 1998, came a lot of items in toy stores. 

Taco Bell got in the mood with these toys:


Kid's Meal Boxes:




One of the boxes with the 7 premiums offered:




Running action figure:




Tank water squirter:




Cup holder - With color variation:





A cool re-use for the cup holder - makes more sense the original use.


Cups:








As you see, I don't have pictures of all 7 unwrapped premiums.  I think there might also be another cup or two.  Any help filling in the holes would be appreciated.