the.com/merchandising
turning a story into a t-shirt, a lunchbox, and forty dollars you didn't plan to spend.
means the business of selling branded goods tied to a character, show, or franchise, separate from the thing itself.
from from middle french marchandise, meaning goods for trade, but the modern sense was basically invented in 1977 when george lucas kept the toy rights to star wars instead of the cash advance.
lucas gambletraded salary for merchandising rights, made billions
bigger than filmsstar wars toys outearn the movies combined
pokemon empireover 90 billion dollars, mostly not games
disney mathparks and merch dwarf box office revenue yearly
for instance
star wars toys — kenner sold over 300 million figures by 1980
pokemon cards — launched 1996, still outselling new video games
hello kitty — sanrio character with zero cartoon for years, pure product
mickey mouse ears — disneyland's original 1955 souvenir, still a best seller