Kenner’s pivitoal role in Star Wars

After A New Hope, George Lucas receveed a proposition from Kenner toys that pushed the Star Wars Fandom further. What Kenner did that started it all was the empty box campaign.

If kids up and down America were nonplussed by their empty boxes on Christmas morning, we can only guess at the panic unfolding at the toy company Kenner in the run-up to the festive season. In 1976, Kenner had managed to land the exclusive rights to produce Star Wars merchandise when a much larger company, the Mego Corporation, had passed on Lucasfilm’s attempt to make a deal. But Kenner, like just about everyone else, had failed to anticipate just what a phenomenon Star Wars would become on its release on the 25th May 1977.

The empty box campaign allowed parents to guarrantee their kids toys with an empty box. It was important that Kenner secured the rights to produce star wars because other big corporations didn’t have the foresight to collaborate with Lucasfilms because of their lack of belief in the Star Wars Franchise. One of these companies was Mego corpooration.

As it was two years before Kenner managed to secure negotiations with Lucas, most of the fan base founded through the initial empty box campaign had aged. One of the effects of this was the collecting of the action figures. The action figures started being released periodically in between movies to maintain viewership and a fanbase for the films. With this, some action figures began to be worth more than anyone could predict.