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Chances are, if you were a kid in the '70s, no
doubt you or someone you knew, adorned a part of
their personal wallspace with Wacky Packages.
Just how popular were those stickers that spoofed
household products? In 1974, Wacky Packages were
the first non-sports cards to ever outsell
baseball cards in a given year. Now, Topps has
put out a new series; the first since 1991.
The idea was conceived in 1967 with Topps Product
Developement head Woody Gelman and creative
director Len Brown. The men liked the ad
parodies they saw in Mad magazine and wanted to
stretch the idea. They hired talents known in the
underground comics field: Bill Griffith, Jay
Lynch, Art Spiegelman, among others. Topps
already had Norm Saunders, known for his artwork
on the Mars Attacks! cards.
Early attempts in the '60s had modest success,
possibly due to it's format. The initial series
was die-cut and the following set was postcard
size and called Wacky Ads. Topps switched to
having Wacky Packages come in pull-off stickers in
1973 with excellent results. Over the next three
years, Topps printed out 16 series!
Not everyone was laughing though. Letters of
"Cease and Desist" came from many companies
threatening litigation, including General Mills,
McDonald's and Ralston-Purina. Most letters gave
Topps ninety days to pull the product. However,
by the time that ninety days elapsed, a new
series was already out. Topps even spoofed
themselves with Sootball and Beanball cards; and
yes, even Wormy Packages spoofing their namesake.
By the late '70s and '80s, it appeared the
popularity waned. Different variations of the
set, with part original and part previously used
spoofs, continued to be printed sporadically until
1991.
Still, there is an adult fan base that grew up
with Wacky Packages that makes up another part of
the collectible market. Original paintings of
Wacky Packages artwork have sold from between
$3,000 to $5,000. In July 2004, Topps auctioned
off the original artwork for the Crest take-off,
Crust, which sold for a whopping $22,850. Serious
money for funny artwork.
The current set includes 55 sticker cards. Who
knows?
Buy a pack and maybe you'll pull a spoof of the
Martha Stewart Living magazine -- Martha Skewered
Living Behind Bars.
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