Batmania

 

The Batmania that has surrounded Batman over the years is just that, mania. Almost anything you are looking to buy whether it’s can openers, Tshirts, pillows, dog collars, cups, or even teddy bears, can be found with either a Bat logo, Bat villain, or Batman.

The Batmania surrounding the merchandising of Batman products took a life of its own in the 60’s after the debut of the Adam West Batman movie and television series. Batman was right up alongside James Bond, a movie that premiered a year before Adam West’s movie, with the merchandising craze. Both Batman and Bond were able to generate nearly $130,000,000 in merchandising sales between them in 1964-1965 alone.

Almost every television network became heavily invested in the merchandising possibilities for their productions. In 1957, the television network, ABC, even operated its own licensing and merchandising department in order to capitalize on the toy and clothing opportunities presented by the Western television show, Maverick. From there, taking on Batmania was a walk in the park for ABC. ABC’s previous experience with merchandising characters and television shows was a definite part of the big success with Batman. The article Batman Versus The Green Hornet explains that other reasons for Batman’s success was “its appeal to multiple audiences—generational, countercultural, or queer—and with its relationship to the emerging pop art movement and camp sensibilities of the late 1960s.” So basically, everyone loved Batman and wanted to support their addiction through merchandise.

Over the years, as more and more Batman movies were produced by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Warner Bros. Consumer Products teamed with DC Comics to take on a lot of the Batman merchandising. Together WBCP and DC Comics have created merchandise for the 1960’s Batman series, Batman trilogy movies, soundtracks, sleepwear, mugs and drinkware, chess sets, DVDs, kitchen essentials, toys, and more. All of these products can be found and purchased at the WB Shop using this link: http://www.wbshop.com/category/wbshop_brands/batman+bat.do DC Comics has also collaborated with companies such as Converse to make sneakers, New Era for snapbacks and beanies, Under Armour for shirts, and Build-A-Bear for a teddy bear.
If your looking for some cool/strange Batman gifts to give away to all your Bat lovers this Christmas, be sure to check out this video: