In the early 1980s, there were dozens of M*A*S*H licensed products available in the marketplace. I have previously written about several including action figures, Halloween costumes, games, and a train set. How were all of these items promoted? There were print ads, in-store displays, and the ever important word of mouth. But if you look on eBay, you might find a set of M*A*S*H matches that advertised a variety of M*A*S*H official products. Based on my research, these match books were promotional items created by 20th Century Fox to advertise a set of products. What I am not sure about is whether they were distributed directly to retailers and resellers, or if they were advertisements for the general public. I have previously written about the licensed product kit that was used to advertise the M*A*S*H products at product meetings. It was not uncommon for companies to distribute advertisements and promotional items, such as these matches. In this weeks post, let’s take a look at three of these matchbooks, the products they advertised, and the interesting way you could request more information.
By the early 1980s, 20th Century Fox found several ways to monetize its shows with licensed products. Fox partnered with a 3rd party manufacturer, and both Fox and the company would benefit from each sale because Fox would get a cut of the profit that the business made as a licensing fee. While Fox didn’t directly manufacture the products, they had a vested interest in their promotion. These three matchbooks were a way for Fox to advertise the types of products that they offered. The three products advertised here: a M*A*S*H shirt, a mug, and a hat. Inside each matchbook is an order form to purchase the item offered on the matchbook, and there is an added option to request a catalog of other products they offered. The form is dated 1981, and that lines up with the popularity of M*A*S*H and the rise of licensed products for the series. Most of the products I have seen were sold after 1978 and well into the 1980s. These matchbooks were likely used to promote the series and help sell items. My favorite detail of the order form is the disclaimer to not mail the matches with the order form!
I have always found these matchbooks to be interesting because they explore the growing world of M*A*S*H licensed products in the early 1980s, and they also advertised a way to order items by mail. They advertised M*A*S*H, offered a practical use as a matchbook, and allowed the recipient to place an order for the featured product and request a catalog of more available products. Unfortunately, I do not completely know is how these were distributed. As I mentioned, they could have been used in trade shows as a way for retailers to find out about M*A*S*H. But they could have been available to the public too. Fox did offer a fan club in the early 1980s, so maybe they were testing mail order purchases directly from Fox? Distributing matchbooks to the public would have been an interesting way to get attention and test a direct ordering method. Anecdotally, there seems to have been a lot of these produced. As I mentioned in the introduction, if you search eBay today, you are almost guaranteed to find a few listings for these matchbooks. That has been the case for years, so they were definitely printed in volume. These matchbooks are an interesting relic of a time before the age of online shipping or home shopping television networks. Mail-order catalogs and products had been around for decades by the 1980s, so it isn’t surprising that Fox would want to capitalize on the success of M*A*S*H.
