Summary
Great artists possess the ability to capitalize on fortuitous mistakes when they occur – a skill thatGarfieldcreatorJim Davis extended to the merchandisingof his iconic orange-tabby. According to Davis,an essential piece ofGarfieldparaphernalia was the result of a misunderstanding, one that he insightfully managed to capitalize on.
As explained inan article published by Mental Floss,Garfield’screator initially designed a very different prototype for what eventually became the “Garfield Stuck On You” doll. As many readers will remember, these dolls were immensely popular in the late 1980s and 1990s as a car accessory – but this was almost not the case.
According to Jim Davis, the initial conception was for a Garfield with Velcro on its paws. Davis thought it would be popular as a household item, and was surprised by the success of the suction-cup doll with car owners.
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Garfield’s Most Successful Merch Was The Result Of A Mistake
“Stuck On You” Almost Never Happened
When the prototype came back with suction cups, rather than Velcro, Davis exhibited the sense that made him a successful business person…Rather than clinging to his initial idea…he gave the design a chance to prove itself.
The success of the “Garfield Stuck On You” doll played an essential part in elevatingGarfieldto the pop culture monolith it became. It is fascinating to consider how a miscommunication in the chain of production led to the iconic merchandise, and to wonder howthe history ofGarfield, and popular culture in general, might have been different. Jim Davis described the origin of the “Stuck On You” doll as a process in a way that is akin to stories of prospectors inadvertently stumbling across vast oil reserves while panning for gold.
As Davis put it:
I designed the first Stuck on You doll with Velcro on the paws, thinking that people would stick it on curtains. It came back as a mistake with suction cups. They didn’t understand the directions. So I stuck it on a window and said, ‘If it’s still there in two days, we’ll approve this.’ Well, they were good suction cups and we released it like that. It never occurred to me that people would put them on cars.
Notably, the original idea for the “Stuck On You” makes total sense – cats are, of course, more synonymous with climbing up the curtains than clinging to the windows of a moving car. Nevertheless, when the prototype came back with suction cups, rather than Velcro, Davis exhibited the sense that made him a successful business person, as well as an inspirational artist. Rather than clinging to his initial idea, and getting upset at the mistake, he gave the design a chance to prove itself.
“They were good suction cups,” Davis stated, amusingly, though funny as it may seem, the quality of the production in fact mattered a great deal in the outcome of this pivotal moment inGarfieldhistory. Had the original “Garfield Stuck On You” fell off that window, a fixture of American consumer culture would never have entered the market. Even still, Jim Davis could have opted against taking a chance on the product – buttaking those kinds of chances is exactly what led toGarfieldbecoming a global phenomenon.
“Garfield Stuck On You” Helped Jim Davis' Cartoon Transcend Its Medium
From Iconic To Icon
Pop culture ephemera…is proliferate in contemporary American culture, but that was not always traditionally the case. It can be argued thatGarfieldmerchandise was crucial in the early trajectory of this social shift.
As the article on the “Garfield Stuck On You” noted, the doll was an immediate success, selling millions of units in the year of its debut alone. The article raises an interesting account of the appeal of the “Stuck On You,” noting that even at the time the media sought to understand the phenomenon. As Mental Floss' Jake Rossen wrote:
Speaking withThe Santa Fe New Mexican, pop culture analyst Michael Marsden said that cars had become a mobile living room, with drivers wanting to express their identities with stickers and window decals. With his caustic sense of humor, Garfield could broadcast his owner’s sense of irreverence.
According to this theory, the “Garfield Stuck On You” appeared at a pivotal point in Americans' relationship with pop culture.
Pop culture ephemera – such as collectibles, memorabilia, and toys – is proliferate in contemporary American culture, but that was not always traditionally the case. It can be argued thatGarfieldmerchandise was crucial in the early trajectory of this social shift. The idea that the “Stuck On You” allowed drivers to signal their affinity for Garfield’s “caustic sense of humor"has its extension in the subsequent generation of Punisher skull decals, Deadpool t-shirts, and the general cultural conflation of interests with personality.
At the same time, the “Garfield Stuck On You” proved to be the catalyst forJim Davis' creation to truly ascendto another level of popularity. Garfield was already iconic by the time the manufacturer accidentally put suction-cups on the orange tabby’s feet, instead of Velcro – but the subsequent success of the “Stuck On You” madeGarfield an actual icon, a physical product that reflected the values of the person who bought it. Though Jim Davis didn’t originally recognize the potential for the “Stuck On You,” consumers did immediately, making it one ofGarfield’sgreatest successes.
Jim Davis' Legacy Is As Much As An Entrepreneur As An Artist
A Pop Culture Pioneer
Jim Davis belongs in the conversation when people talk about the great, innovative entrepreneurs of the 20th century, just as he merits inclusion on the list of most impactful artists.
The anecdote about the origin of the “Garfield Stuck On You” doll is fascinating for many reasons – but among the most notable thing that can be extracted from it is another great example ofJim Davis' intuitive commercial sense.Davis never shied away from acknowledging thatGarfieldwas a product– first, a piece of commercial art, designed to appeal to the widest possible audience, and then as an ever-expanding line of licensed materials, extending what began as a cartoon well beyond its original medium.
This trajectory happens incidentally for some properties, and some creators –The Far Side’sGary Larson comes to mindas one reluctant entrepreneur, whileCalvin & Hobbes' Bill Watterson rejected licensing his workalmost entirely. Jim Davis stands out, because his approach to makingGarfieldprofitable was deliberate from the very beginning, and he was ultimately successful beyond even his own wildest expectations. His decision to approve the suction-cup “Stuck On You” when it was unexpectedly placed in front of him is a great encapsulation of that.
In this sense, Jim Davis belongs in the conversation when people talk about the great, innovative entrepreneurs of the 20th century, just as he merits inclusion on the list of most impactful artists.Garfieldhas perhaps become so familiar on a worldwide scale, and so deeply woven into the fabric of pop culture, that many people might not realize the importance of studying the path it took to get there. That is to say, understandingGarfield’shistory offers an integral dimension to any effort to understand the wider evolution of art, culture, and commerce in the last fifty years.
Source:Mental Floss, “The Great Garfield Car Window Toy Craze”;Mental Floss, “20 Things You Might Not Know About Garfield”
Garfield
Garfield is the central character in Jim Davis’s comic strip, which officially began in 1978 under the same name. Garfield is an orange tabby cat with a love of lasagna and a disdain for Mondays. He tends to torment his owner and dog while trying to secure more food - and quiet.
