Mick and the boys get small.
The self-proclaimed World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band known for its giant concerts and oversized stages is now being brought down to a somewhat more manageable size.
Today, Fisher Price introduced its Little People Collector Rolling Stones Special Edition Figure Set featuring miniature figurines of four of the band members, once the bad boys of rock. Appealing to both aging Boomers as collectibles and perhaps more traditional age-appropriate Fisher Price customers – the packaging says it’s for “ages 1-101” — the set retails for $19.99 and continues both the Stone’s ever-expanding merchandising efforts and Little People sets based on pop culture. The release is tied to the start of the group’s latest North American tour, which kicked off on Sept. 26 in St. Louis and includes performances at a number of U.S. cities through mid-November.
The 2-1/2-inch-high figurines include lead singer Mick Jagger sporting the Stones’ signature lips and tongue logo on his t-shirt, guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Jones and drummer Charlie Watts, who passed away in August. Two other original Stones – guitarist Brian Jones who left the group in the late 1960s and died shortly thereafter and bassist Bill Wyman who retired from the band in 1993 – are not part of the set.
And while the figures are not posable and, as the packaging states, this is “not a singing toy,” fans and friends alike are bound to enjoy adding to them their Stones memorabilia collection while for kids of a certain age, they are nothing if not playful.
For the Stones, this is only the latest in their decades-long merchandising march which most recently featured the August 2020 opening of their first store, RS No. 9 Carnaby, in London. The physical store is joined by an online site and both feature clothing, Stones music and all sorts of accessories for mind, body and home. Even though they originally burst onto the rock music scene in the 1960’s as rebellious bad boys in contrast to the nice Beatles, the Stones were one of the earlier musical acts to take on sponsors for their tours and sell merchandise at their shows.
But they certainly have not been the only ones. The Beatles also went into the stuff business through their Apple Corps. venture with its own short-lived store and today, more than 50 years after the band broke up, you can still buy all manner of merchandise featuring the Beatles from apparel and accessories to pens, watches and even a cardboard diorama of their fabled last concert on a London rooftop. Bob Dylan, among many others, has also aggressively moved into the merchandise business with his own brand of whisky and even metalwork art.
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The Little People series from Fisher Price, which is owned by Mattel
For both the Stones and Fisher Price the new Little People set promises to offer, yup, you guessed it, Satisfaction.
