I think one of the scariest things in the 1970s had to be the notion of a giant shark eating you. I'm slightly ashamed to admit this kept me out of lakes and occasionally pools as a pup. It's kind of hard to merchandise a shark seeing as he doesn't have any cool accessories or a vehicle of any sort but Imperial toys came up with a pretty neat selection for 1976.
Of course, even Imperial could resist the odd generic rubber animal and why not? To a kid, all sharks were Jaws!
Here is the Imperial Toys booth at th 1975 Toyfair, as you can see Jaws was a pretty big deal.
Oh! Oh! I had that inflatable shark! I remember desperately trying to get it to swim just below the surface of the water, but the laws of physics were against me.
ReplyDeleteFreakin' sweet!
ReplyDeleteWow, "booth babes" have come a long way since the '70's!
ReplyDeleteLove the inflatable fins. What a wonderful touch of sick humour.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Brian. When JAWS merchandise was coming out I was only two or three and wanted nothing to do with it.
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