US gears up for Harry Potter spin-offs
Harry Potter merchandise is set to flood the US this week with the release of the latest J K Rowling book – despite the author’s request to keep marketing to a minimum.
Retailers across America are unleashing an array of toys and games inspired by the boy wizard to tie in with the launch of the novel at midnight on Friday.
They include video games, bubble bath, special robes with built-in fibre optic lights, a magic wand with sound effects and forehead-scar makeup.
The Jelly Belly Candy Company has even created a version of the Harry Potter magical Bertie Botts sweets, including flavours such as ear wax, vomit, bogey and grass, which will be sold alongside the book in many stores.
Rowling has said she opposes excessive merchandising of her creation.
She told one interviewer: “I would do anything to prevent Harry from turning up in fast-food boxes everywhere. I would do my utmost. That would be my worst nightmare.”
Licensing agreements try to block toy or sweet companies linking their products directly to the books.
But a spokeswoman for the Borders bookstore chain told the New York Times its shops have sought “creative ways” to sell Potter-inspired merchandise while respecting Rowling’s wishes.
The giant Toys “R” Us store in Manhattan’s Times Square has created two Harry Potter zones packed with action figures, toys, sweets, DVDs and copies of the previous books.
Discount store Wal-Mart plans to sell the new novel at up to 40% off the cover price, because it expects to make profits from sales of other Harry Potter toys, clothing and DVDs being sold alongside.
Scholastic, Rowling’s US publisher, said it expects the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to double the record-breaking sales of the previous novel, and has ordered a print run of 8.5 million books.
Other publishers are also hoping to cash in on the Potter phenomenon by releasing critiques of Ms Rowling’s novel.
Verso is aggressively pushing The Irresistible Rise of Harry Potter, a Marxist analysis of the phenomenon by British scholar Andrew Bake.
Richard Abanes, whose Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace Behind the Magick claimed that the books can lead children toward the occult, is also using the occasion to promote his follow-up, entitled Fantasy and Your Family.
