Wacky wall walker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Wacky Wall Walker was a toy molded out of a sticky elastomer. It was shaped similar to an octopus, and when thrown against a walls would "walk" its way down. It was a hugely popular toy in the early 1980s.
Before its introduction in the United States, a man by the name of Ken Hakuta received in the mail several sticky octopus like toys from his mother, who lived in Japan. They were intended for his children, but Hakura found himself fascinated with the toy, which were called Tako in Japan. He realized their marketing potential, and after purchasing rights to the product in 1983 he began to market them locally, in Washington, D.C., dubbing them "Wacky Wall Walkers". Their popularity was mediocre, until Nina Hyde of the Washington Post wrote a feature story on them. This created a buzz and people in the Washington area were flooding into the local stores to purchase them. Within the next several months, hundreds of media outlets were doing stories on them as well, creating one of the biggest selling fads of all time. As the fad began to decline, over 240 million Wacky Wall Walkers had been sold, raking in about 80 million dollars.
