Let's Do Lunch Boxes

摘要

Historians looking for the antecedents of today's licensed merchandise explosion will most likely focus particular attention on the school lunch box. The year 1950 was an epochal one. Aladdin Industries of Nashville made a lithographed steel lunch box emblazoned with the likeness of legendary TV cowboy Hopalong Cassidy (the thermos bottle inside had a matching decal) and sold 600,000 of the things. Three years later American Thermos of Norwich, Conn, struck back with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans lunch boxes. The modern era of licensed-character marketing had begun.