That wasn’t through any kind of deliberate strategic placement. This was before the era of influencers,” Allen says. The appeal was organic. “I think once the IP has touched your life in some way, you don’t forget it.” Jude Exley is editorial director for the Brands & Licensing team at Farshore, the HarperCollins imprint that publishes the Mr Men books. She has edited the series for the past 20 years. Exley explains that the brand hasn’t been kept alive merely through merchandising, but by stories that place old characters in new scenarios (as in Mr Impossible and the Easter Egg Hunt in 2015, and Mr Men Little Miss Happy Diwali in 2020). She says the characters have to be updated often: “You have to think about how you make them still have that nostalgic appeal, but make them feel relevant to audiences today, so that can be quite a juggle.” Miss Naughty made Mr. Fussy read a book about mud disguised as a book about personal cleanliness, Mr. Nervous about spiders disguised as a book about puppies, Mr. Rude about table manners disguised as a book about the art of farting, Mr. Messy about personal cleanliness and Mr. Scatterbrain about how to make your own marshmallow mix disguised as a book about gorillas.

Yet plenty of Mr Men merchandise isn’t aimed at children – in recent years there’s been everything from Mr Grumpy tea towels to 2019’s four Spice Girls stories about Little Misses Ginger, Baby, Scary and Sporty (Exley admits that Adam didn’t know who the pop group were before drawing their characters). A 2018 study by Farshore titled “Media Use and Attitudes” found 51 per cent of those who bought Mr Men books in 2017 did so because of “fond memories of reading them as children”. There is an enormous nostalgia market for the brand, which blossomed when the entertainment group Chorion bought the rights.

Books Multibuys

While Michael Bond’s Paddington is currently celebrating its heritage at the British Library, the Museum of Brands in West London’s Notting Hill is hosting the “Mr Men Little Miss 50th Anniversary” exhibition. There you can see some of the earliest licensed Mr Men products, from bubble baths to plastic radios to the somewhat ironic Mr Greedy low-fat strawberry yogurt.

Mr. Men leave Chorion to say Hello, Kitty". Financial Times. 6 December 2011 . Retrieved 11 December 2011. After Hargreaves died from a stroke aged 53, his son Adam created new characters such as Mr Cool and Little Miss Bad. Historians of our turbulent era might note that when the public was allowed to vote for two new characters earlier this year, they opted for Mr Calm and Little Miss Brave. “The Mr Men and Little Miss books are really good at being relatable and helping children to understand the world, emotions and personalities around them,” Exley says.a b 20th Century Fox Film (27 January 2015). "Fox Animation Acquires Film Rights to Sanrio's Mr. Men Little Miss Properties" (Press release). Business Wire . Retrieved 5 February 2015. {{ cite press release}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ( link)