Page 92 - The Disneyization of Society

MERCHANDISING

of merchandise bearing Oswald’s image, including a pop-up puppet, stencil set,
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celluloid figures and posters. According to legend, to which Walt amply contributed,
on his train journey back from his thwarted negotiations in which he attempted to 83
increase the studio’s share of receipts from the Oswald shorts, he dreamed up the
idea of a cartoon series based on a mouse named Mortimer. His wife, Lillian, liked
the idea but not the name, and out of that discussion Mickey Mouse was born.
Merchandise and licensing proliferated in the wake of Mickey’s arrival in
November 1928. A year later, Walt Disney Productions was transformed into four
separate companies, one of which dealt with merchandising and licensing. By
1932, a journalist reported that between 50 and 60 firms were producing Mickey
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Mouse merchandising which was sold in 200,000 stores. Deals were handled first
of all by George Borgfeldt and from 1934 onwards by the flamboyant Kay Kamen.
By 1948, the company’s deals with Kamen had resulted in the sale of the five
millionth Mickey Mouse watch (see Box 4.1) and in that year alone goods bearing
the images of Disney characters brought in revenue of $100 million. 10

Box 4.1 The Mickey Mouse watch

The Mickey Mouse watch is one of the great success stories in the realm of
merchandising. The idea of a watch with Mickey on the dial was developed by Kay
Kamen who sold the idea to the Ingersoll-Waterbury Company, which had been on
the verge of bankruptcy at the time. The watch, whose first version appeared in
1933, saved the company. The first wristwatch retailed at $3.75 and a pocket watch
at around the same time for $1.50. Macy’s in New York sold 11,000 watches on just
one day soon after they went on sale. At both Macy’s and Marshall Fields in
Chicago, the watches were the focus of spectacular window displays. At the 1933
World’s Fair in Chicago, Ingersoll provided a small factory where the manufacture of
the Mickey watches was demonstrated. The watch became seen as a stylish item and
Ingersoll were able to add 2,800 new employees to its small workforce of 200 in the
space of just two years. At the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, a Mickey watch was
placed in a time capsule. Mickey Mouse watches are still produced today and indeed
watches bearing the images of a host of Disney animated characters are on sale. They
come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are sometimes produced to celebrate
Disney events or anniversaries. The style is often ironic nowadays, such as a Dick Tracy
watch bearing an outline that has features of both Tracy and Mickey. A wide variety of
manufacturers are involved in their production nowadays, such as Lorus and Fossil.

Source: Heide and Gilman (1997)

Walt realized the immense profitability of merchandising and the significance
of the role it could play in the company. In the years after Mickey’s arrival, the