Editing Shmoo (section)

===Toys and consumer products===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S1207-501, Westberlin, Kind sitzt auf Care-Paket.jpg|right|thumb|A child in West Berlin holding a Shmoo-shaped [[balloon]] and sitting on a [[CARE Package]] (October 1948)]]
Shmoo dolls, clocks, watches, jewelry, earmuffs, wallpaper, fishing lures, air fresheners, soap, ice cream, balloons, ashtrays, toys, games, [[Halloween]] masks, salt and pepper shakers, decals, pinbacks, tumblers, coin banks, greeting cards, planters, neckties, suspenders, belts, curtains, fountain pens, and other shmoo paraphernalia were produced. A garment factory in [[Baltimore]] turned out a whole line of shmoo apparel, including "Shmooveralls". In 1948, people danced to the Shmoo [[Rhumba]] and the Shmoo [[Polka]]. The Shmoo briefly entered everyday language through such phrases as "What's Shmoo?" and "Happy Shmoo Year!"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.essortment.com/all/alcappshmoo_rxvq.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522213154/http://www.essortment.com/all/alcappshmoo_rxvq.htm |archive-date=2009-05-22 |title=Al Capp's Shmoo |website=Essortment.com |date=1986-05-16 |accessdate=2012-12-10}}</ref>

Close to a hundred licensed shmoo products from 75 different manufacturers were produced in less than a year, some of which sold five million units each.<ref>''Newsweek'', 5 September 1949; and ''[[Editor & Publisher]]'', 16 July 1949</ref> In a single year, shmoo merchandise generated more than $25&nbsp;million in sales in 1948 dollars (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|25|1948|fmt=c}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}).<ref name="deniskitchen.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.deniskitchen.com/docs/new_shmoofacts.html |title=The Shmoo Fact Sheet |first=Denis |last=Kitchen |publisher=Deniskitchen.com |year=2004 |accessdate=2012-12-10}}</ref>

{{blockquote|There had never previously been anything like it. Comparisons to contemporary cultural phenomena are inevitable. But modern crazes are almost always due to massive marketing campaigns by large media corporations, and are generally aimed at the youth market. The Shmoo phenomenon arose immediately, spontaneously and ''solely'' from cartoonist Al Capp's daily comic strip—and it appealed widely to Americans of ''all'' ages. Forty million people read the original 1948 Shmoo story, and Capp's already considerable readership roughly ''doubled'' following the overwhelming success of the Shmoo... |Denis Kitchen}}

The Shmoo was so popular it even replaced [[Walt Disney]]'s [[Mickey Mouse]] as the face of the Children's [[United States Treasury security#Nonmarketable securities|Savings Bond]], issued by the [[U.S. Treasury Department]] in 1949. The valid document was colorfully illustrated with Capp's character, and promoted by the [[Federal Government of the United States]] with a $16&nbsp;million advertising campaign budget. According to one article at the time, the Shmoo showed "Thrift, loyalty, trust, duty, truth, and common ''cents'' [that] add up to aid to his nation". Al Capp accompanied President [[Harry S. Truman]] at the bond's unveiling ceremony.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fishinghistory.blogspot.com/2008/09/shmoo-part-i.html |title=The Shmoo Part I |first=T. E. A. |last=Larson |website=Fishing for History: The History of Fishing and Fishing Tackle |date=2008-09-10 |accessdate=2012-12-10}}</ref>