WATCH: This Hilarious 1983 Kenner Employee Video Hypes New ‘Star Wars’ Toys
An internal Kenner promotional video from 1983, meant to excite employees about the upcoming line of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi toys, has to be seen to be believed.
The video, posted to YouTube by the Sawyer Family Reviews Channel, outlines Kenner’s plan to promote all of their new products headed to stores for the 1983 film. It’s meant to motivate their salesmen to push customers for larger orders, predicting that Return of the Jedi will be one of the biggest blockbusters ever, and demand for toys will be great. They weren’t wrong about that.
It’s not clear exactly when the video was made, but it is after the movie changed its title from Revenge of the Jedi to Return of the Jedi. That would likely make it from early 1983, but we can’t confirm that.
The video is heavy with film clips from The Empire Strikes Back, but also includes clips from Return of the Jedi as well, with some marketing facts and graphics sprinkled throughout. There’s even a mention of the “Nien Numb” free figure mail-away promotion.
What makes the video hilarious, however, is that the narrator is a bit too excited about Kenner’s marketing plan and potential sales. At times, he nearly screams with glee about the company’s $12 million marketing budget. The narrator eagerly exclaims “We’ll swallow the competition whole!” with sales of Star Wars toys, as a Jedi film clip of one of Jabba’s henchmen falling into the Sarlaac pit is shown.
As Star Wars puns abound, the narrator proclaims “The Force is with us – AND THATS A FACT!” He also predicts that millions of children will “storm into stores” to buy toys and enter a Kenner sweepstakes that promises more than 1,000 winners who will win access to a screening of Jedi. Full disclosure, I was NOT one of the winners, despite multiple entries.
The video also promotes the upcoming Kenner Star Wars Micro Collection, which featured smaller playsets and ships with one-inch diecast figures of Star Wars characters. Despite predictions that it would be a huge hit, the Micro Collection was one of the few Star Wars toy lines that flopped, despite offering some fantastic small-scale toys.
Check out the promotional reel here.
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