I was so thrilled when I saw that Burger King was going to have Star Trek glasses as their promotion tied to the new film. It's not that I'm excited to get my hands on a Star Trek glass (although I did pick one up with my Angry Whopper the other day) but I was delighted to see one of the fast food chains bring back the
glasses promotion. Back in the good ol' days, I found nothing more exciting than when McDonald's or one of the other guys would offer drinking glasses for a buck or two when you bought a sandwich or a meal or whatever they wanted you to buy. Growing up, our kitchen cupboard was filled with many of these cartoon character glasses. But the surprising thing is that these glasses have stuck around. I have glasses from fast food restaurants that have been in daily use for over 20 years! When I got married my wife thought the cartoon glasses would all go on a display on a shelf somewhere in the basement or something like that...but I had to put my foot down. Everything tastes better from a cartoon character fast food glass, so the Smurfs, Muppets, Flintstones and other childhood friends all moved into the same kitchen cupboard as her boring glasses that match the plates.
When I thought about doing a post on this topic, I figured I would take pictures of some of the glasses in my collection. But I found some great pictures from various sources on the internets to illustrate my article so we'll use those for this discussion...
To me, these are the pinnacle of fast food glass promotions:
Smurf glasses from Hardee's circa 1982. There are a few reasons these glasses are so near and dear to my heart. First of all, 1982 was the height of the Smurf craze and I was a huge Smurf fan. I could simply not wait to get my hands on one of these bad boys. But, here's what made the passion for these glasses all the more intense. There was not a single Hardee's anywhere near where we lived. But, there was on right down the street from my grandmother's house. In fact, a trip to Gram and Poppy's house was usually accompanied by a visit to Hardee's. Luckily, my grandparents only lived about 25 minutes away and we visited often. Then, to make the deal sweeter...the collection was made up of
8 glasses! Usually promotions of this kind featured four different designs/characters, but eight just seemed like a ton! We managed to snag most of them at the time. Over the years all eight of the glasses have made appearances in my cupboards. A few years ago when I started going to flea markets and antique malls I discovered that these (and other glasses) are pretty common finds so I've replaced and added some to my collection. I still have the original 27 year old Brainy Smurf glass at work in our kitchen today. We also have Grouchy and Smurfette still serving us drinks. (Sadly, just this past week Papa Smurf was knocked off the table and shattered into a million pieces. So did my heart!) The great Smurf Glasses promotion of 1982 was such a hit for Hardee's...
...that in 1983 they came out with the
Party Collection. Again, my 9 year old jaw dropped to the ground when I heard they were coming out with more Smurf glasses. This time around the glasses were more colorful and alive. I've had my hands on all six of these babies as well, although right now only Smurfette and Baker Smurf still party on! Well played Hardee's, well played! They also struck gold in my heart the following year with another of the all-time greatest fast food promotions: the
Gremlins Book and Records. After that, Hardee's seemed to fade off the pop culture promotions landscape. Although, we'll give an honorable mention to their late 80's California Raisins figures.
My love of restaurant glasses actually starts here with
McDonald's The Great Muppet Caper glasses from 1981. Before anyone knew what a Smurf was, the Muppets were just about my favorite thing in the world. A Muppet movie was an event and this promotion made more anxious to see the movie than I already was! The four glasses in this collection capture four great scenes from this fantastic movie. The picture here is actually a tray liner from McDonald's used to promote the promotion. We had the first three glasses but never snagged the Miss Piggy glass which was a shame because I always remember when we saw the movie in the theatre how hard my mom laughed at the scene where Piggy rides the motorcycle through the stained glass window. A few years ago at a flea market I found someone who had a whole case of the Piggy glasses - brand new. Now, the Miss Piggy glass and the Happiness Hotel glass (another flea market find) reside amongst our glasses.
Mickey D's struck gold again in 1983 with their Camp Snoopy Glasses. Camp Snoopy is the kiddie land section in a handful of theme parks across the country. When these glasses came out in `83, Knott's Berry Farm in California was the first park to welcome Snoopy and the gang as their mascot. These glasses don't mention the theme park as they were sold all over the country. The nice thing about McDonald's glasses promotions as stated in this tray liner is that each restaurant offered only one glass a week. So, it was actually easy to keep up with your collection and buy all 5. I've still got the Charlie Brown glass, Snoopy in the sleeping bag broke a few years ago and I've never had the other three. But Wait! I hear an antique mall calling my name!
This was the last truly great fast food restaurant glass promotion and it popped up (or all places) at
Hardee's in 1990. The Flintstones glasses were super exciting. Even though I've watched the Flintstones all my life, I really became a huge fan and collector later in life. There's actually four glasses in this 30th Anniversary set but this was the only good picture I could find. Each of the glasses features a scene from a classic episode and a little write up on the other side of the glass with the plot and year of the episode. The episodes where Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm and Dino were all introduced are included as well as the classic opening theme song. I lost two of these glasses to "party fouls" but the Dino glass still rocks on at our family meals!
The Flintstones glasses were the last full sized drinking glasses. The `90's were filled with disappointing variations on the glasses idea. McDonald's offered glass mugs to promote The Flintstones movie in 1994 and Batman Forever in 1995, but neither of them had anything to do with the movie nor did they hold much liquid. (Although I did buy all the Flintstones ones because I'm a completest). Ronald also rolled out two sets of glasses celebrating Walt Disney World. While I appreciated the effort, the glasses are not full-sized drinking glasses and the second set of glasses were square making them hard to drink out of. Burger King put out two sets of Disney themed glasses, one set for Pocahontas and another promoting various Disney VHS titles. However, these aren't made of glass - they are plastic and I can't tell you how much I hate drinking out of a plastic cup!
As with the movie they promote, the new Burger King Star Trek glasses are a great throwback to the way things used to be and for all intents and purposes: the way things should be!
I'm not in the market for any new glasses right now...but wait a few weeks and our son Joey will break a couple and we'll have room in the cupboard for a few more. Either way, I'm always taking a look at the cartoon themed drinking glasses that can be found at yard sales and flea markets. This past weekend I found not one...but two rare glasses that I haven't seen in my travels before. First, we have our good buddies the Shirt Tales. All five of the friends that appeared in the TV show are featured on this glass. They're all sitting around the big tree that, as you may recall, housed all their gadgets and computers to help the police commissioner solve crimes. Ah...the 80's! I'm not even sure where this glass came from, if it was from a fast food joint or somewhere online it was suggested that these glasses were a promotion with Hallmark Stores. Could be!?
