Who's Watching the Watchmen Swag?
The movie Watchmen, which opened in early March, is based on a popular Alan Moore graphic novel by the same name. It has easily been the most heavily hyped and promoted film of the 2009 movie season so far. For much of February the ads were nearly impossible to miss, as was the buzz generated by the press. And, there was a plethora of logoed, collectible swag to feed the movie’s frenzied fan base.
The film’s iconic blood-covered smiley face appeared on T-shirts, hats and jackets. At New York’s Toy Fair there was no shortage of prototypes of items based on the movie’s characters. There were Dr. Manhattan lunchboxes, Rorschach ski masks and “The End is Nigh” hats.
The promotional items also went to a whole other level when Clay Enos, one of the unit photographers on the set of the Warner Bros. film, launched his own line of Watchmenbranded coffee. The Organic Coffee Cartel (OCC) began selling collectible cans of Night Owl Dark Roast Coffee, which was named for a brand served in the film. Only 10,000 cans were produced for $19.99 a pop. All proceeds for the sales went to charity. OCC also ran a sweepstakes that allowed winners the chance to attend the film’s premiere.
“I did the coffee because I thought it would appeal to Watchmen fans and specialty coffee fans alike,” Enos says. “There’s a moment in the film where coffee is served, and it occurred to me that we could create a real coffee that
would leap from the fictional world of Watchmen into reality. As far as I know it’s the first-ever movie tie-in coffee.”
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