The Teddy Bear: 1980s icon?

When one thinks of the 1980s, one naturally thinks of rainbows, hearts, maybe even unicorns and Pegasus (or an iconographically implausible amalgamation of the two, as discussed previously). But let us not forget the other unusual obsession of the eighties: teddy bears. This obsession is reflected not just in the occasional teddy bear sticker...

...but also in its many variants.

Also, teddy bears were dressed up for action shots in the 1980s, not just for stickers but for magazines, posters, calendars, etc. Nobody does this anymore.

Stickers did, however, make it easy to dress a bear yourself:

I loved bears, but I wonder even today about the iconographical relevance of a bear on a zeppelin.

Then there were entire lines of stickers devoted to bears and their daily activities.

Seems that bears, much like many others at the time, were obsessed with ballet, aerobics, and even dancercize. And they were non-threatening enough to be appropriated for religious purposes. So marketable! But why bears? Does anyone know?

Does the Bialosky Bear have anything to do with it?

 

Special effects stickers

There were all kinds of special visual effects that stickers offered in the 1980s. They quickly evolved from two-dimensional decorative seals to collectors' items with a range of sensory bells and whistles: puffy, fuzzy, scratch and sniff, shiny, sparkly...

And the eighties were a time of special visual effects. You could get sneakers with "oily" rainbows on the side, wear fluorescent clothing, and affix glow-in-the-dark stars to your ceiling. The time was ripe, I think, for stickers that could be marketed as "opalescent":

So pinky and pastelly, too. And let us not forget holograms!

A scientific brainchild of the 1980s [note: actually 1968], holograms combined rainbow and 3-D effects in one. So cool. We've got balloons, unicorns, bears, James Dean, and Marilyn Monroe...

The greatest special effects stickers were probably liquid crystal (or "oily"). Some of my oilies have aged; you have to periodically massage them to keep them fresh.

Finally, check out the awesome heart--I am not sure what you'd call it, if it's not holographic. Here is the view at an angle:

The three-dimensional pattern appears to extend into infinity; the image actually changes with the viewpoint of the observer. Such a space-agey, computer-graphics inspired take on your classic heart sticker. Like Tron meets Hallmark or something.

Edward Gorey

I love Edward Gorey, and I love stickers. So you can imagine my elation when this winter I stumbled across this:

Who knew such a thing existed?!

I bought a couple of copies, one to keep, and one to use. Here are some highlights:

Cute Farm Animals!