The Ads – 'Multi-Comic' Ads

IPC, publishers of Cheeky Weekly, were on occasion so keen to broaden the circulations of Cheeky Weekly's companion titles that they couldn't resist cramming more than one comic into a single ad. Let's have a look the promotions of this type which appeared in the pages of the toothy funster's comic...

The first such sales-boosting drive appeared in Cheeky Weekly dated 03 December 1977, wherein our grinning pal's ugly fizzog was seen looming above a page consisting of what we must assume IPC felt were among the strongest representatives from three of their other titles; Krazy (the comic which spawned the Cheeky phenomenon and where the toothy funster was concurrently appearing), Whoopee! (the paper that would offer refuge to the ragged band of Cheeky Weekly survivors who emerged from the wreck of the toothy funster's title when it foundered in February 1980) and Whizzer and Chips (IPC's famous '2-comics-in-one'; a gimmick that would later be shamelessly appropriated by Cheeky Weekly itself). It's curious that IPC didn't include in this ad their longest- running humour/adventure comic of the period, Buster. Maybe it was felt that Buster wasn't in need of any additional marketing at the time, and the fact that the title not only outlived all the comics featured in this ad, but survived to the year 2000 rather bears out this opinion. Buster also remained aloof from 1979's Star Guest promotion.

Unlike the rest of the ads we'll be examining here, the above publicity material wasn't linked to any particular promotional drive, it seems it was just designed to expose Cheeky Weekly readers to the fun to be had in some of the other IPC product lined up alongside their favourite title on the newsagents counter.

In the issue dated 07 January 1978 the same three comics got a further boost as a new ad alerted readers to the commencement of cut-out Spotter Books in those titles. Cheeky Weekly had of course commenced its own Spotter Book of Fun that week. The Whizzer and Chips Spotter Book of Wheels sounds extremely tedious, but I suppose it ties in with that comic's Whizz Wheels character.

A week later the Spotter Book promotion, and the 3 other participating titles, got another mention presumably as a reminder to any kids who last week purchased an extra title or two with the intention of completing extra cut-out books. Added to the already established scheme is additional inducement to keep purchasing, in the form a a teaser for a 'Great Competition' which is 'coming soon'. Quite which comics this applies to is not made clear.

A fortnight later the same comics, now styled 'The Funtastic Four' (with Buster again conspicuously absent from the line-up), were given a further promotional push to coincide with the final instalments of the booklets. The same characters are given prominence in the blurb as were in the 03 December 1977 ad. Oddly crude dummy renditions of the comic covers are on display.

In the 24 June 1978 issue was an ad encompassing no less than 5 titles - Buster (surprise!), Whizzer and Chips (which had of course by this time absorbed Krazy), Cheeky Weekly, Mickey Mouse and Whoopee!. The cause of this comic cavalcade was the imminent appearance of condensed versions of these titles within their companions in a promotion that would rotate across the participating comics over a four-week period.

Cheeky directed readers towards the forthcoming Mini-Comics schedule in the following week's issue.

Anyone left in suspense by the cryptic reference to the impending competition in the 14 January comic were no doubt relieved to read the announcement of the 5 Papers Competition in Cheeky Weekly dated 15 July 1978.

Later in the same issue was another schedule of upcoming mini comics, once again introduced by the toothy funster.

By the 26 August 1978 issue Buster had resumed its standoffish attitude and was absent from the titles participating in the forthcoming toy competitions and simultaneous cut-out-and-keep promotion.

A variation on the same ad, featuring a reversed masked hero, appeared 7 days later. In addition to publicising the commencement of the cut-out games, the ad reminded readers that Whoopee was that week running the first of the four toy competitions. Lone Ranger toys were on offer, but the TV Western boom of the 50s and 60s was long-forgotten by this time, so the decision to market a range of action figures based on the masked man and his Native American pal at this particular juncture is a bit puzzling.

Whizzer and Chips was the location of the toy competition the following week. The lucky winners of the 10 star prizes would each receive a Clash of the Robots game.

Art: Sid Burgon

It seems there was a space that needed filling in Cheeky Weekly 7 days later as an ad promoting our grinning pal's comic together with Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee (oddly Mickey Mouse, the location of that week's toy competition, wasn't mentioned) found itself squeezed into page 31 alongside the concluding element of Saturday, the instructions for the Crack-A-Joke Game and a stamp-collecting ad (please tell your parents).

IPC were at this time clearly convinced of the effectiveness of the cut-out-and-keep marketing ploy, as little time seemed to elapse without readers being encouraged to cannibalise their reading matter. Thus it's little surprise to find that as 1979 dawned another multi-comic ad turned up in Cheeky Weekly (dated 06 January), heralding further upcoming scissor-paste-and-cardboard action in the big 3 humour titles. Buster yet again exempts itself, as does Mickey Mouse.

As we've come to expect, the message was reinforced 7 days later to coincide with the commencement of the promotions.

Friends of Cheeky who were so inclined would have been sharpening their scissors on learning, in the comic dated 31 March 1979, that '3 Super Pull-Outs' with a 'pop' theme were due to commence the following week, one in each of the usual 3 titles. Sweeny Toddler and the Bumpkin kids are again on hand.to assist with the publicity drive.

The usual rehash of the initial ad appeared the following issue....

...and a somewhat more radical refashioning, in which the Sweeny/Bumpkin collaboration was replaced with a generic popster who looks to me to have sprung from the pen of Arthur Martin, was printed in the following edition...

Buster (which had absorbed Monster Fun since it last participated in a multi-title promotion) made a surprise reappearance (along with Mickey Mouse) in the multi-comic ad in Cheeky Weekly dated 21 April 1979, announcing that sachets of milkshake would be given free in each of the featured titles over coming weeks. And - what a surprise - a cut-out feature would commence in each drink-powder-bearing edition!

The follow-up ad in the next edition was expanded to fill a whole page.

By 05 May 1979, the milkshake boat had sailed as far as Buster was concerned so it's no surprise that young master Capp's title is absent from another full-page follow-up ad in which Sweeny and the junior Bumpkins have been replaced by two representatives of the target audience.

By the third week of the Two Shakes promotion, the reinforcement ad was reduced to a half page since there were only 3 comics still to provide thirsty comic consumers with flavoured powder for their lactic libations. The same two readers' representatives were featured.

It's a little surprising that IPC chose to launch a new humour/adventure comic at this time - Jackpot – in competition with their own milkshake and cut-out promotion running across more established titles.

The next 'multi-comic' ad didn't strictly relate to comics – as Christmas 1979 drew thrillingly close, many Cheeky Weekly readers will no doubt have left their favourite reading material conspicuously open at page 8 of the 15 December comic, in the hope of finding one or more of IPC's humour annuals under the tree on the 25^th.

Page 27 of the same issue carried news of yet another imminent competition running across the familiar 5 humour titles (Jackpot is absent).

This was to be the last multi-comic ad in Cheeky Weekly which, despite participating in all the cross-comic promotions detailed above, evidently failed to establish satisfactory circulation figures and came to an end just a few weeks later with the issue cover-dated 02 February 1980.

The ads - Buster

Compared to IPC's long-lived Buster, Cheeky Weekly was a mere blip in the annals of comic history. Whereas the toothy funster's own comic managed a (by comparison) paltry 117 issues before expiring, Buster first appeared in newsagents in May 1960 and was published for almost 40 years, existing just long enough to stagger across the threshold of the new millennium as the last surviving IPC funny paper. Named after its cloth-capped cover star (introduced as being the son of Reg Smythe's Andy Capp, although direct references to this fact in the comic were limited to a few early issues), Buster over its long history absorbed many lesser IPC titles as their readerships dwindled to unsustainable levels.

Cheeky Weekly's 18 February 1978 issue was the first to feature an ad for Buster (which at that time still carried the title of its most recent acquisition as of November 1976, Monster Fun). This ad alerted prospective readers to a promotion in the following week's issue in conjunction with the manufacturers of Corona soft drinks. Corona themselves were concurrently running a series of animated TV ads featuring the punning strapline 'Every Bubble's passed its Fizzical', and the free stickers on offer to Buster readers in the upcoming issue tied into Corona's marketing campaign.



Seeking to retain any surge in Buster's readership resulting from kids who weren't normally readers buying the comic just to get their hands on the free stickers, the same Buster issue would include the first part of yet another of IPC's interminable line of cut-out-and-collect games. Enthusiasts wishing to complete a set of Match 'Em cards, and crucially obtain the all-important instructions, were obligated to buy the comic for the next 4 weeks. A pic of the titular character is featured in the ad, rather crudely pasted in. Why is he holding a pencil?

A variation on the same ad appeared in Cheeky Weekly dated 25 February 1978, reminding readers of the toothy funster's comic that the stickers and Match 'Em game were in that week's Buster & MF. The cut-and-paste Buster, his pencil now cropped, returns in the ad.

Cheeky Weekly's next encounter with a Buster ad came in the 04 March 1978 comic, by which time Buster was halfway through its cut out game. This ad would therefore have had little appeal to readers who missed the first part of the game, and indeed the text is clearly aimed at encouraging those who saved part 1 to continue to the end (and, the publishers no doubt hoped, beyond). Some examples of the cards are shown, featuring faces of Buster & MF stalwarts Plunk, Big Brother (from the Big Brother is Watching You strip), Kid Kong, and Tony Broke (from Ivor Lott and Tony Broke). I can't identify the character whose face appears in the third box from the left in the top row. The torsos and legs on display were mixed up to demonstrate the fun to be had with the game. Young Master Capp is missing from the ad entirely.

With admirable/irritating persistence, IPC inserted another ad highlighting the Match 'Em promotion in the following Cheeky Weekly, reminding readers that the third part of the game was in that week's copy of Buster. A further 6 cards were shown, this time featuring Faceache, then there's a character who I suspect is supposed to be Little Brother from the Big Brother… strip, followed by The Leopard from Lime Street (Billy Farmer's feline alter-ego), Ray (of X-Ray Specs), The Ghostly Leg (surely the most bizarre strip of the entire Fleetway/IPC line) and Kid (of Kid Gloves). All the characters seem to have been paired with their correct legs (or leg in the case of the spectral lower limb). Buster himself is again absent.

IPC clearly saw the Match 'Em promotion as a high-profile affair, because Cheeky Weekly dated 18 March 1978 carried an ad for it in the fifth consecutive issue. Admittedly the cut-out game, which was by then in its final week, gets a smaller mention as, under the banner 'Buster Rules OK' (a reference to the inclusion of the Match 'Em rules this week), the ad concentrates on selling the strips and features which appear each week. Buster is present in the ad, which is dominated by a large pic of false-teeth wearing shark, Gums.

There followed a break from Buster ads, until Cheeky Weekly dated 03 June 1978 carried a plug for the Buster Holiday Fun Special. A pasted-in Buster and the Special's cover shared the ad with some text detailing the fun and thrills to be had in return for 30p. Although the weekly Buster still carried the Monster Fun title on its cover at this time, the Holiday Fun Special makes no mention of the other comic. The same ad appeared in the following 2 issues of Cheeky Weekly.

One might have expected there to be an advertisement as Christmas approached for the 1979 Buster Book, which was published in autumn 1978, but none appeared. While most IPC comics had hardback versions published in the run-up to the festive period, for many years Buster's annual Christmas offering had soft cardboard covers, and all were called Buster Book rather than Buster Annual.

Unlike the previous year's Buster Holiday Fun Special, 1979's Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special, which was advertised in Cheeky Weekly dated 14 April 1979, not only mentioned the title of the 'absorbee', but gave it greater emphasis than the host comic. I've never seen a copy of this special, so I can't comment on what might have made it, according to the blurb, 'unusual'. Probably it featured predominantly Monster Fun characters - the ad text and pics of Kid Kong and the skeleton from Terror TV suggest this may have been the case. As we have come to expect, a pasted-in Buster was also on display in this ad. A different image of Tin Teacher has been overlaid on the special's cover - the actual cover can be seen among the specials here. There was a 10p price hike since the previous year. The same ad returned in the following 2 issues of Cheeky Weekly.

My assumption about the Monster Fun bias of the aforementioned special would seem to be confirmed by the ad for Buster Holiday Special in the 02 June 1979 issue of Cheeky Weekly. There's no mention of Monster Fun on its cover, although MF's Kid Kong shared the front page with Buster, and another survivor from MF, Gums, was included in the ad, utilising the same image that appeared in the ad dated 18 March 1978. Like the advert for the Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special, this ad appeared in 3 consecutive issues of Cheeky Weekly.

The 1980 Buster Book was first advertised in Cheeky Weekly dated 06 October 1979. Under the strapline 'Take off with Buster!' (a reference to the events depicted on the Book's cover) a pasted image of Capp junior on roller skates has been used as presumably the staff member compiling the ad was unable to locate another image of Buster on skis. The ad also ran in Cheeky Weekly the following week.

Adverts Subject Buster

Issue Date	Page	Page Type	Advertiser	Subject
18-Feb-1978	31	Normal	IPC	Buster
25-Feb-1978	24	Normal	IPC	Buster
04-Mar-1978	24	Normal	IPC	Buster
11-Mar-1978	24	Normal	IPC	Buster
18-Mar-1978	24	Normal	IPC	Buster
03-Jun-1978	18	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Fun Special
10-Jun-1978	21	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Fun Special
17-Jun-1978	8	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Fun Special
14-Apr-1979	15	Normal	IPC	Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special
21-Apr-1979	5	Normal	IPC	Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special
28-Apr-1979	15	Normal	IPC	Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special
02-Jun-1979	21	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Special
09-Jun-1979	29	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Special
16-Jun-1979	22	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Special
06-Oct-1979	27	Normal	IPC	Buster Book
13-Oct-1979	27	Normal	IPC	Buster Book