Shmoo - Licensing History

Licensing History

Of course, it was merchandised to death. I think they even had shmoo toilet seats.

—Al Capp, Cartoonist PROfiles #37, March 1978

An unexpected—and virtually unprecedented—postwar merchandising phenomenon followed Capp's introduction of the Shmoo in Li'l Abner. As in the strip, shmoos suddenly appeared to be everywhere in 1949 and 1950—including a Time cover story. They also garnered nearly a full page of coverage (under "Economics") in Time's International section. Major articles also ran in Newsweek, Life, The New Republic and countless other publications and newspapers. Virtually overnight, as a Life headline put it, "The U.S. Becomes Shmoo-Struck!"

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