Asterix - Influence in Popular Culture

Influence in Popular Culture

  • The first French satellite, which was launched in 1965, was named Astérix-1 in honour of Asterix. Asteroid 29401 Asterix was also named in honor of the character. Coincidentally, the word Asterix/Asterisk originates from the Greek for Little Star.
  • During the campaign for Paris to host the 1992 Summer Olympics Asterix appeared in many posters over the Eiffel Tower.
  • The French company Belin introduced a series of "Asterix" potato chips shaped in the forms of Roman shields, gourds, wild boar, and bones.
  • In the UK in 1995, Asterix coins were presented free in every Nutella jar.
  • Asterix and Obelix appeared on the cover of Time Magazine for a special edition about France. In a 2009 issue of the same magazine, Asterix is described as being seen by some as a symbol for France's independence and defiance of globalisation. Despite this, Asterix has made several promotional appearances for fast food chain McDonald's, including one advertisement which featured members of the village enjoying the traditional story-ending feast at a McDonald's restaurant.
  • Version 4.0 of the operating system OpenBSD features a parody of an Asterix story.
  • Action Comics Number 579, published by DC Comics in 1986, written by Lofficier and Illustrated by Keith Giffen, featured an homage to Asterix where Superman and Jimmy Olsen are drawn back in time to a small village of indomitable Gauls.
  • Lisa Simpson is delighted at the sight of a rack with Tintin and Asterix comics in a comic book store, depicted in The Simpsons episode "Husbands and Knives".
  • In 2005, the The Mirror World Asterix exhibition was held in Brussels. The Belgian post office also released a set of stamps to coincide with the exhibition. A book was released to coincide with the exhibition, containing sections in French, Dutch and English.
  • In the episode "Goodnight Mr. Bean", Mr. Bean and Teddy are reading an Asterix comic book.
  • Obelix is referenced in The King Blues' 2008 single "My Boulder". The song features the lyrics, "If I'm Obelix, you are my boulder".
  • On 29 October 2009, the Google homepage of a great number of countries displayed a logo (called Google Doodle) commemorating 50 years of Asterix.

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