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| Shippams Ad from Joe 90 Top Secret #22 |
This very interesting single-page advertisement appeared in various Gerry Anderson publications sometime in June, 1969. Images and information were sent to me from Major Matt Mason friend Martin Gainsford.
The game challenges the contest participant in finding Sgt Storm's location. It appears he has had a mishap and can only provide a description to Major Matt as to what landmarks he encountered to get where he currently has fallen (with a "broken leg" in "a crevasse"). The idea is for aspiring winners to plot a course across a planetary map, using directions based upon landmarks. The landmarks present challenges to the participant as to terrain, so part of the contest is to choose the best vehicle among MMM's pool to complete the journey. When the player reaches the last point via directions given, he would write the grid coordinates from the map in hopes of winning. The participant would also include the entry form, 2 jar tops (with a maximum of 4 entries per contestant). Prizes include winning one of 250 Space Station Space Crawler Deluxe Action sets plus a Sgt Storm.
What is unusual about the ad is the apparent pencil-traced nature of the rendering. I'm guessing that the publishers wanted something more akin to the renderings in a comic book, so some staff member traced an MMM catalog. It's interesting that the advertisers used the term "250 Matt Mason Space Sets Must Be Won!" throughout the ad, like they had no choice in the matter or that the need was imperative to saving Sgt Storm's life. (Paul Notes: the “must be won” line is very typical of competitions for prizes in the UK at the time. No idea why they phrased it like that, but they did so every time.)
Martin's Notes:
I felt compelled to write and thank you for such a fascinating and well planned site. I am now a forty year old kid with a large collection of toys from my childhood. At the top of my list of favourite items are my MMM pieces. I have a modest collection compared to some of you guys but enjoy it a great deal. We had Major Matt and his pals in the late 1960s and that is when I first had him as a play friend. Your listings and images of everything related to one of the classic toy lines is stunning. A couple of bits of information I can maybe offer is that the 'Astronaut' slim boxed figures were sold in England during the mid-1970s. My MMM collection had long since bit the dust by then but I was amazed to see an 'Astronaut' in a candy store window in 1973. I immediately recognised him as Matt from around five or six years earlier and begged my Mum to buy him for me. I then dug around for my old back pack and sled and MMM fever hit me again. About ten years back it all started again so I guess now I'm 'infected' for life. I have something to offer your site but sadly I don't have a scanner. If you give me an address I can send a copy (remarkably, he immediately sent me a CD with the images via Royal Mail! - ED) however of a full page advert/competition for Major Matt from a British kids comic called Joe 90 Top Secret in 1969. It was based on a show by Gerry Anderson who was the guy who made FIREBALL XL5 and SPACE:1999. Maybe you remember them. Anderson's effects guys actually used MMM and GI Joe pieces when they made the series UFO.
The issue of JOE 90 TOP SECRET to look for is number 22 dated June 14 1969. It is a promotion for Shippams Sandwich Spread.
John's Notes:
This is indeed an unusual ad, and I love seeing stuff like this from around the world. It's interesting that so many MMM collectors have the common interest in Gerry Anderson productions. It appears that this same ad (or possibly slightly different) appears in other Anderson-produced publications. Most recently a copy of TV Century 21 appeared on eBay contained the same or similar ad: TV CENTURY 21 COMIC # 231 ("TV 21 and TV TORNADO") - Dated June 21st 1969. It appears that several publications in the UK had the same promotion printed within them.
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| Shippams Ad Planetary Map |
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| Shippams Ad Vehicle Selection |
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| Shippams Ad Entry Form |
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