I have seen some crazy ads in comic books during my time as fan and reader of them. However, an award needs to go to someone for this ad. I saw this in an issue of Marvel Team-Up that I was reviewing for my other site Mail It To Team Up. Who had the idea to try and sell jewelry to kids who were doing chores around the house to have enough quarters to buy all their favorite comic books that week? Was it the sales people for Marvel? If so they deserve the award for being the best salesperson for selling the idea to Mark Jewelers. I can't imagine Mark Jewlers in 1974 saying "Hey we sell diamond rings worth $200 to $400 dollars. So why not place an ad in comic books and sell them to children?" Also giving them a 15 day approval and telling them they didn't need to send money. Sounds like it could be a disaster.
The only thing I can think that would have made sense was that an older college crowd was now reading comics and even having Stan Lee lecture at those schools. Perhaps they hoped they would want to buy them for their girlfriends or boyfriends at that time. This was not a one page ad it was four pages on cardstock paper and stapled into the center of the book. So the ad stands out like a sore thumb. I hope it worked for them but since I never saw the ad again I kind of doubt it.
4 comments:
I remember finding these ads in my Deathlock comics. Deathlok, now THERE was an awesome character! Too bad Marvel in its infinate wisdom, had to screw him up too!
These were actually added to comics that were distributed to military bases - thus the older target audience. As an aside, I collect these. Any chance I could trade/purchase some of your copies (ah@wlion.com)?
sorry andrew but I like the books there are in too.
I HAVE 13 MARVEL COMICS WITH THESE ADS, FROM 1974-1975 IF INTERESTED EMAIL ME KEN71961@YAHOO.COM
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