Happy Bunny is a character in a series of stickers, buttons, greeting cards, posters, and other merchandise sold at novelty shops across North America. Designed by artist and writer Jim Benton in the 1990s, whom People Magazine called "the most visible cartoonist in America," [1] Happy Bunny is a small, smiling bunny, often varying in color, with an insulting slogan printed at its feet. [2] Happy Bunny gained popularity in 2001 after stores like Hot Topic and Spencers began selling its merchandise . [3]
Happy Bunny products are sold in many forms such as clothing lines, note pads, key chains, computer mouse pads, energy drinks, school supplies, and many more. "Mr. Benton's intellectual properties ... have made him stand out in an industry dominated by big entertainment companies." [4] "Last year, the It's Happy Bunny brand nabbed the International Licensing Excellence Award for Best Art Brand Licensing of the Year, from the Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association (LIMA)." [5] "An anti-drug campaign featuring It's Happy Bunny was honored at the 2007 Austin ADDY Awards for advertising excellence in the category of public service." [6]
The appeal of the merchandise lies in the fact that most, if not all, of the slogans are apathetic and sometimes offensive and derogatory, and one commentator noted that "'It's Happy Bunny' has joined the "tasteless" category of merchandise ...". [7] The slogans include, among others, "You suck and that's sad", "Cute but psycho: things even out", "Hi, Loser", "It worries me how dumb you are", "Dear Santa, leave presents. Take Brother!", and "I am the dominant bunny in the world" . It's Happy Bunny also has a line of "medicine" to cure quite awkward (fictional) diseases such as the "I'm delusional" pills; they are actually mints or small candies, the word poison badly blocked out with crayon (with happy bunny holding a crayon) and written in crayon there is, "mints for a frend"(sic).
In addition, Jim Benton has written It's Happy Bunny books including Life. Get One; Love Bites; What's Your Sign?; and The Good, The Bad, and the Bunny. These books are targeted towards teen audiences and are not intended to be children's books. An It's Happy Bunny Sudoku book has also been written by Jim Benton and Rafael Sirkis.
In 2006 the Partnership for a Drug-Free Texas commissioned Benton to create anti-recreational drug public service announcement messages featuring Happy Bunny. [8]
Playboy is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s, it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such as emoticons. The smiley began as two dots and a line to represent eyes and a mouth. More elaborate designs in the 1950s emerged, with noses, eyebrows, and outlines. A yellow and black design was used by New York–based radio station WMCA for its "Good Guys" campaign in the early 1960s. More yellow-and-black designs appeared in the 1960s and 1970s, including works by Farah Mohamed and Harvey Toss Ball. Today, The Smiley Company claims to hold the rights to the smiley face in over 100 countries and has become one of the biggest licensing companies globally.
Miffy is a fictional rabbit appearing in a series of picture books drawn and written by Dutch artist Dick Bruna. The original Dutch name, "nijntje", is a shortening of the diminutive konijntje, "little rabbit".
Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing and retail company specializing in art supplies. It is known for its brand Crayola and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered in Forks Township, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of the state. Since 1984, Crayola has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Hallmark Cards.
Tic Tac is a brand of small, hard mint manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero. They were first produced in 1969 and are now available in a variety of flavours in over 100 countries.
Reading Rainbow is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS and afterward PBS Kids from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 30-minute episodes were produced over 23 seasons. Before its official premiere, the show aired for test audiences in the Nebraska and Buffalo, New York markets.
Sanrio Company, Ltd. is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and produces products focusing on the kawaii ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and accessories which are sold worldwide, including at specialty brand retail stores in Japan. Sanrio's best-known character is Hello Kitty, a cartoon cat and one of the most successful marketing brands in the world.
Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more items or products.
Pat the Bunny is the first "touch and feel" interactive children's book, written and illustrated by Dorothy Kunhardt. Since its publication in 1940, it has been a perennial best-seller in the United States. Rather than follow a linear narrative, the book invites the reader to engage in tactile activities, such as patting the fake fur of a rabbit, feeling sandpaper that stands for "Daddy's scratchy face," trying on "Mummy's ring," reading a book within a book, playing peekaboo with a cloth, and gazing into a mirror.
Anne Wood, CBE is an English children's television producer, responsible for creating shows such as Teletubbies with Andrew Davenport. She is also the creator of Tots TV and Rosie and Jim. She was a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award.
Jim K. Benton is an American illustrator and writer. Licensed properties he has created include Dear Dumb Diary, Dog of Glee, Franny K. Stein, Just Jimmy, Just Plain Mean, Sweetypuss, The Misters, Meany Doodles, Vampy Doodles, Kissy Doodles, and the jOkObo project, but he is probably most known for his creation It's Happy Bunny.
Yoram Jerzy Gross was a Polish-born, Australian producer of children's and family entertainment.
Viennetta is a British brand of ice cream dessert made by Unilever and sold under the various Heartbrand brands around the world. The original Viennetta consists of several rippled layers of ice cream separated by thin layers of sprayed-on compound chocolate. It was briefly available in many flavours in 2021, including vanilla and mint before being quietly discontinued again.
Brand licensing means renting or leasing of an intangible asset. It is a process of creating and managing contracts between the owner of a brand and a company or individual who wants to use the brand in association with a product, for an agreed period of time, within an agreed territory. Licensing is used by brand owners to extend a trademark or character onto products of a completely different nature.
Tim Tam is a brand of chocolate biscuit introduced by the Australian biscuit company Arnott's in 1964. It consists of two malted biscuits separated by a light hard chocolate cream filling and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate.
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale is a classic children's picture book written and illustrated by Mo Willems. Released by Hyperion Books in 2004, Knuffle Bunny received the 2005 Caldecott Honor. The story spawned an animated short film and a musical play, as well as two sequels. The Knuffle Bunny Series has sold more than 750,000 copies. The series' protagonist, Trixie, is named after Willems's real-life child.
Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. is an Indian content creator, aggregator and distributor, specifically in the media and entertainment industry. It was founded by Buddhichand Maroo in 1962 as a book-circulating library under the name Shemaroo. It set up India's first video rental business in 1979. The company went national after it began content distribution in 1987, became aggregators and bought rights to movies for home video.
Disney Consumer Products, Inc. is the retailing and licensing subsidiary of the Disney Experiences segment of The Walt Disney Company. Previously, Consumer Products was a segment of Disney until 2016, then a unit of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (2016–2018).
Jim Henson's Pajanimals is a children's television series created by Jeff Muncy and Alex Rockwell. The Pajanimals are characters that were made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop at The Jim Henson Company. The series was filmed in Northern Ireland. It aired on PBS Kids Sprout in the United States, and Sprout was a co-producer of the series.
The Smiley Company is a brand licensing company, based in London, United Kingdom. It claims to hold the rights to the smiley face in over 100 countries. The company creates products including textiles, puzzles, party goods, stationery, automobile accessories, and toys for licensed brand partners and retailers.
