Tweety Bird Bobble Head, 2003

Description

This little figure shows the yellow canary-like Tweety Bird sitting on a red rolling suitcase. It measures 4 and 5⁄8 inches high. The words "Looney Tunes Back in Action" and Looney Tunes in Africa" are printed on the sides of the suitcase.

History

In 2008, Ann Tucker gave 30 items, which consisted of a part of her toy collection to the Museum. Tucker collected figures from cereal boxes, fast food joints, and she bought some of them at a greeting card store. Tweety Bird made his screen debut during World War II. He became paired with his nemesis, Sylvester the Cat, in 1947. This bobble head was released to coincide with the movie, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, starring Brendan Fraser and Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat, and the Tasmanian Devil as well as our lisping yellow flying friend.

Cereal. Fast food. The Entertainment Industry. Plastic. These disparate items are responsible for many little figures in toy boxes. Generations of children have asked for particular cereal brands to get their prizes. And since 1979, children have begged their parents to order fast food so they can get a toy with their burger or chicken nuggets. The first cereal giveaways were printed on the box - you collected proofs of purchase, mailed them in, and waited and waited and waited until your propeller beanie came in the mail. Today, many cereal giveaways come in the box, so a child's access to the toy is only limited to how long their parents make them wait to open the box after leaving the grocery store. Many of these promotional are linked to a movie or TV show and marketed directly to children. In the last 50 years, television has changed how toys are sold to children, turning them into increasingly active and direct participants in consumer culture.