Kevin McFarland is warning you now: toys are coming, you won’t be able to escape them, and this time they are backed by a force beyond human comprehension: Disney.
STARTING YESTERDAY AND continuing today, the Star Wars Youtube channel is livestreaming a product rollout like we’ve never seen, with 15 locations in 12 countries—in an all of them, people unboxing toys. It’s an anticipation-stoking preview for Force Friday, tomorrow’s debut of the first officially licensed merchandise for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The product preview, followed by a midnight on-sale release, is a massive and unprecedented event, shrewdly taking advantage of the rise of unboxing videos to unveil the new goodies from the year’s most highly anticipated film. But it’s not the only way Disney has amplified the already dominant Star Wars product line.
I recall that there was a surprisingly precipitous saturation point on the prequel trilogy tat, especially books. It slipped from total marketing war into the remainder bin almost overnight. Disney has its share of bombs, but the world’s largest licensor doesn’t make that sort of mistake with its hits.