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Wacky Packages!
August 5, 2008
Blame it on my youth or whatever, but my interest in packaging was forever locked in by Topps – yeah the people who make sports trading cards.
In the late 1960s, the company came up with a line of truly wild-looking cards that spoofed popular products, often with lurid illustrations that depicted horrible things that could happen by consuming the products.
Just the thing an impressionable youth would enjoy.
Appropriately enough, Topps called them Wacky Packages. The first run of the cards bombed in the late 1960s. Then they revived them in the early 1970s, when I saw them. That time they were a huge hit, and from there they went on for many series of cards, through the end of the decade.
But the story was far from over. There have been several reincarnations, and collectors around the world covet these little paper gems. It seems the idea of making fun of everyday packaging has a certain evergreen quality. Hee hee.
And fortunately the web has documented the Topps Wacky Packages phenomenon extremely well. You can see ‘em all at these sites.
The first series – my childhood introduction to the cards
Second series – another fave
The Best Wacky Packages site I’ve seen
The Wikipedia history of Wacky Packages
Great Wacky Package site that seems to focus on rare editions
Posted by David Bellm on August 5, 2008 | Comments (4)
In response to: Wacky Packages!
toast2town commented:
I remember these. Didn't Garbage Pail Kids come shortly after?
In response to: Wacky Packages!
David Bellm commented:
Yeah, I think so. We certainly were raised in a richly cultured era, weren't we! :-)
In response to: Wacky Packages!
toast2town commented:
Got to love the 80's. Those were some fun times!
In response to: Wacky Packages!
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