The weepul (also known as a weeple, wuppie, or wuppet) is a small, spherical, fluffy pom-pom toy, with large, plastic googly eyes, and no limbs. Weepuls come in various colors. Usually weepuls possess antennae and also large paper feet, with an adhesive layer on the bottom, which is protected by a layer of plastic that is peeled off before deployment.
 Five weepul toys in various colors | |
| Other names | weeple, wuppie, wuppet |
|---|---|
| Type | Promotional merchandise |
| Inventor(s) | Tom Blundell (BIPO, Inc.) |
| Company | Weepuline, LLC |
| Country | United States |
| Availability | 1971–present |
| Slogan | creative, effective promotion |
| Official website | |
According to Rick Ebel, the weepul was created in 1971 by the Oklahoma City promotional firm, Bipo Inc. It was named by owner Tom Blundell after a stuffed doll his parents had taken to market several years earlier. Blundell figured the little-people stick-on would only be a flash in the pan, “but it just got a life to it, and it still isn’t ready to die.”[1][2]
In the Netherlands the weepul was introduced as a marketing tool in the 1980s by the name of wuppie. The wuppie was created by Tom Bodt and Eduard van Wensen, two promotion salesmen, who had been inspired by weeples which he discovered during a trip in the US in the 1970s. The wuppies became popular after Father Abraham featured the wuppies in one of his songs. World Unique Promotional Product Identity & Emotion is a backronym for wuppie.[3]
The wuppies became extremely popular in the summer of 1981. Wuppies were often given out as a prize from 1–900 numbers in the 1980s.
Netherlands comeback
editTwenty-five years later, wuppies made a comeback in the Netherlands. In 2006, the Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn re-introduced wuppies in a new campaign connected to the FIFA World Cup 2006 under the motto Wup Holland Wup, a variation of Hup Holland Hup (Go Holland Go), a Dutch football chant.[4][5] Albert Heijn used wuppies produced in orange, red, white and blue as a collectible trading stamp, functioning as part of a loyalty program. Three wuppies and a fee of €2.49 Euro could be exchanged for a "mega wup". Albert Heijn's wuppie campaign with the World Cup Wuppie Song ("With a Wup, we will win the World Cup") proved popular. Dutch media reported that cars which displayed such "mega wup" on their dashboards were sometimes broken into.[6] A classroom of an elementary school in The Hague was burgled for its many wuppies on display in the window sills.[citation needed]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ What's In A Name?, column by Rick Ebel, Igor – Naming and branding agency, November 2005
- ^ Grundhauser, Eric (13 January 2017). "Rediscovering the Wonderful World of Weepuls". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
- ^ De ontdekker van de wuppie in Amerika (The discoverer of the wuppie in America), news article Algemeen Dagblad, 20 June 2006
- ^ "Onverwacht succes: de comeback van de wuppie" (Unexpected seller: the comeback of the wuppie) - Report from the RTL4 news of June 14. 2006
- ^ ""Comeback Wuppie bij AH"". Archived from the original on September 24, 2008. Retrieved 2006-12-04. - Article in the Algemeen Dagblad of June 1. 2006
- ^ "'Laat niets van wuppiewaarde in de auto!'". Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2006-12-04. ("Don't leave your wuppie alone in your car") by Gert Onnink, Algemeen Dagblad, 20 June 2006