Halloween Department 1980

[PNGwynne]

^Batman had that annoying Bat-symbol on his head. How could you NOT know that's Batman? Weren't the ears a giant clue?

Chris

Worse yet, Ben Cooper actually redecorated that mask into Daredevil. Wrong, so wrong.

[MIB41]

When did the Ben Cooper costumes and masks fade out? It seems like there was a period in the early 80's where Halloween became almost extinct because no one was really doing anything on that day. Then it suddenly came back with a vengeance and gradually became as heavily marketed as any other major holiday.

[Wee67]

When did the Ben Cooper costumes and masks fade out? It seems like there was a period in the early 80's where Halloween became almost extinct because no one was really doing anything on that day. Then it suddenly came back with a vengeance and gradually became as heavily marketed as any other major holiday.

The Wikipedia Ben Cooper page says the Tylenol scare in the early 80's hurt Halloween and costume sales. Cooper didn't go out of business until 92.

[Spawn67]

That would have been about 1982. I remember how freaked out everyone was over Tylenol and razor blades in candy. I went trick or treating at a local mall when they first started doing that there. We had to take our candy and put it under a x Ray type machine to make sure it was safe. Ironically despite all the hype there were literally hundreds of trick or treaters in our neighborhood.(sadly there's virtually no trick or treaters in my old neighborhood nowdays)...

[palitoy]

The Wikipedia Ben Cooper page says the Tylenol scare in the early 80's hurt Halloween and costume sales. Cooper didn't go out of business until 92.

Funny, I just spoke to someone with close ties to the Cooper Family and this soft Halloween is totally blamed for their descent.

[MIB41]

^^^ You know this is interesting Brian. I remember wanting a Michael Myers mask for the longest of times. And, if memory serves, it wasn't until 1984 that Don Post produced the first ever Myers mask, which I purchased and still have and use to this day. The reason why I bring this up, is because that seem to be the same period when the industry (perhaps in response to this crisis) took aim at a different consumer for the Halloween tradition. And that's when you started seeing more of a latex mask and adult-themed costumes which then got translated to kid sizes. Then the industry exploded and Halloween seem to come back bigger than it had ever been when I was a child. And to a large part that had to do with the fact that now the celebration was no longer just inclusive to kids wearing boxed costumes. Society reinvented the concept and broaden it's appeal to everyone. Just my thoughts. Tragic but perhaps necessary in the evolution of the tradition.

[cjefferys]

That's weird, I don't remember any kind of Halloween slow down at all, it was always a big deal in our neighborhood.

[Spawn67]

I have to agree about Halloween slowing down. Around 1984-mid 90's Halloween slowed down in my old neighborhood. Obviously people still celebrated it and of course there were trick or treaters but not even close to what we had in the 70s through 1983...today of course it's bigger than it's ever been. Ironically as I stated before my old neighborhood has virtually no trick or treaters nowdays and my current neighborhood never has any despite the decorated houses.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I recall the scare impacting Halloween. I know my parents really double-checked my candy, and that's when we started be much more selective about which houses we stopped by. I also seem to recall a dip in the number of decorated houses around that time too. But I do know Halloween continued to be marketed heavily, because my mom managed a Hallmark store back then.

Chris