Egregoros

Marketing people are the devil.
All the evils of capitalism start in the marketing departments.

RT: https://poa.st/objects/4b8fa240-a8e4-432a-86d6-04c928c51e1a

@thefinn There was one talented marketing guy and Lucasfilm fired him after he made Star Wars and Empire smash hits.

@judgedread sigh

@thefinn He was the guy who realized you could prime the pump by doing a presentation at San Diego Comicon. He toured other scifi and comic shows as well, so when Star Wars was released in THIRTY TWO THEATERS the lines of scifi fanatics were around the block, which got massive press... and the rest is history.

@judgedread @thefinn I was pretty young but it seems like the toys came out about the same time as the movie. Kids were bringing them to school.

@DC5FAN Not for Star Wars. The toys were notoriously late to the point where Kenner had the infamous 'empty box Christmas' - a package with a certificate saying you'd be mailed the action figures real soon now. I believe they shipped in March. An eternity for a kid.

@judgedread I bet they made huge money. Every kid had them.

@DC5FAN Star Wars merchandising brought in a huge multiple of the boxoffice.

@judgedread That was before home video too.

@DC5FAN It was simultaneous with the advent of home video, VHS was introduced in Japan in 1976, in the US in 1977.

@judgedread I meant more in terms of widespread adoption. It was probably 84-85 when probably half the homes had a VCR. So no immediate market for video at the time of its release.

@judgedread I remember renting a VCR once at a video store.

@DC5FAN @judgedread Earliest memory I have is SNES. My parents bought us one for Christmas later that year

@graf @judgedread SNES - not familiar?