Stuffed Animals/Plush

Promotional Stuffed Animals

We all know promotional stuffed animals as the cute little plush chotchkies crowding our desk. Today promotional stuffed animals are ubiquitous due to mass production and the use of synthetic materials. But the making of stuffed toys originated as the personal hobby of Margarete Steiff, who was confined to a wheelchair for most of her life after contracting polio. During the Victorian Era she began her own company, which became very popular years later for selling the infamous teddy bear. To this day the teddy bear continues to be the most popular type of stuffed animal, including promotional stuffed animals. Stuffed teddy bears are even some of the most popular characters from children's literature and television. Think of Paddington Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Corduroy and Rupert. Toy stores make millions off teddy bear sales each year, and people have even formed clubs around their love for the plush animal.

From Taxidermy to Promotional Stuffed Animals

It's odd to think of promotional stuffed animals as something you would set on your desk, or that a child would cuddle with in bed, considering the concept for stuffed animals came from taxidermy, the practice of stuffing and mounting dead animals for display. For centuries the business of "tanning," or preserving, leather animal hides has been a profitable business, but it wasn't until the 1800s that a demand grew for preserving the body shape and stance of an animal to create a trophy for hunters. Oddly enough, it was the sport of hunting that inspired the first stuffed teddy bear. As the famous legend has it, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt refused to kill a captured bear on a hunting trip, claiming it was unsportsmanlike. Clifford Berryman then drew a cartoon for The Washington Post chronicling the event in 1902. The cartoon inspired Morris Michtom to create a new toy called "Teddy's bear" at the same time that Steiff's company was producing the same toy in Germany. It was the teddy bear that launched the success of many toy companies that still thrive today, and it is our familiarity with stuffed toys as a cultural icon that makes promotional stuffed animals a successful way to market a brand. Schools and universities especially will customize promotional stuffed animals to fit their mascots, then sell them in droves to students, parents and fans.

Promotional Stuffed Animals in the Media

An obvious place you would expect to find promotional stuffed animals is gift shops. The critically acclaimed 2004 television series Wonderfalls actually centered around promotional stuffed animals and other animal-shaped knickknacks that spoke to a jaded sales clerk at a tourist shop in Niagara Falls, telling her to do strange things that eventually helped the people around her. In the show, the stuffed animals became spiritual beings, offering the sales clerk guidance and purpose when nothing else seemed able to give it. The show speaks to our time by suggesting that mass-produced consumer goods have become so ubiquitous and enmeshed in our everyday lives that something as trivial as a promotional stuffed animal could be the voice of God. In terms of your needs for promotional stuffed animals, it may not be the voice of God, but a little plush toy with a cute face could speak volumes to your clients.