Before movie marketing went digital, it looked like this: whoopee cushions, novelty cologne, and a paper shredder branded with the Fargo logo.
A24's new book, For Promotional Use Only, catalogs 30 years of Hollywood promotional merchandise, the oddball giveaways and cult collectibles studios used to sell films between 1975 and 2005. Long before a movie's marketing budget meant a TikTok campaign or a branded filter, it meant a warehouse full of merch nobody asked for and everybody kept anyway.
When Merch Was the Marketing
Studios used to hand this stuff out at premieres, stuff it into press kits, or sell it at the concession stand. It was disposable by design, which is exactly why so little of it survived. A24's catalog pulls together the pieces that did, and the range is wild:
A whoopee cushion for Jackass: The Movie (2002). Novelty cologne for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004). A hot pink squirt gun shaped like an Uzi for The Big Hit (1998). A colon cleanser tie-in for National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002). Branded breath mints for American Pie 2 (2001).
The Collectibles That Actually Mattered
Some pieces in the book crossed over from throwaway swag into genuine pop culture artifacts. The Cast Away volleyball, printed with Wilson's bloody handprint face, became more iconic than half the props actually used in most movies that year. The Terminator sunglasses and carrying case from 1984 read less like promo material and more like something a costume department would kill for today.
Other entries lean straight into camp: a Troll doll for the barely-remembered Troll 2 (1990), a Fargo-branded paper shredder, a Swingers matchbook notepad, and a pale pink piggy bank for Babe (1995).
A Time Capsule Worth Keeping
What makes the book work isn't just the nostalgia, it's the reminder that studios used to treat physical merch as a real extension of a film's identity. A movie wasn't just a poster and a trailer. It was an object you could hold onto after the credits rolled.
For Promotional Use Only is out now from A24.
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