GODZILLA 1985 Promotional Items (various)

There are a few years that stand out for their sheer amounts of American Godzilla material.  1978 is one, followed by 1985 and 1998, although that last one certainly wasn't all roses.  1985 was one of the biggest, though, and if you knew where to look, Godzilla was all over the place.  There was a fun Dr. Pepper campaign, and also an onslaught of toys and products from Imperial (all of these items can be seen at our Vintage American Godzilla Items page, by the way).

For some reason, though, we haven't ever discussed the many other promotional items that were made for GODZILLA 1985, so let's remedy that now.  These are basically associated with the theatrical and/or home video release of the film, so you wouldn't have found any of these in retail stores:

Theater Standee: we all know the famous poster, but did you know there was a large cardboard standee, measuring 45 by 71 inches? There was a time that such large displays were commonplace, but it seems like you don't see nearly as many today. Come to think of it, when's the last time I went to a movie theater?

Video Store Standee: This is actually the exact same item as above, with a sticker placed over the NEW WORLD PICTURES, making it NEW WORLD VIDEO...I kid you not!

The Love Theme from GODZILLA 1985:  I mentioned this somewhere on this blog in the past, but yes, there was a single released for the American version of the film.  It's pretty rough.  And, pretty rare.

"Godzilla Beach Patrol" Safety Vest: I know what you are thinking, because I am still thinking it to this day, and it consists of  lots of "how the...?!" and "why?!" exclamations.  We may never know why this existed.  My feeling is that it was tied to an event, and probably a local,  one-time event, somewhere.  

The back has the slogan of "Have You Seen The New Godzilla" that appeared in a couple of places during 1985, and you can just make out a tiny "New World Video" underneath.  All I can tell you is, the G.B.P. (even though they had a sweet logo) has never reappeared.

Video Store Poster:  1985 was the first (and only, I guess) Godzilla movie to have a separate video store poster, which...wasn't too different from the theatrical one.  It was the same 27 x 41" size, though, and sometimes sellers get them mixed up.

Video Store Standee & Sign:  Some video stores went the extra mile, and had a counter-top-sized small standee, as well as a hanging sign.  Ah, remember video stores?

New World Video Mug: I have actually done a post about this item before, and since it does specifically say "New World Video," we can feel confident that it was promoting the home video release rather than the theatrical one. 

There was also a magazine ad campaign (where you will see a lot more of the "There Goes The Neighborhood" tagline), with full-page color ads of the poster art in magazines like Rolling Stone.  There were also numerous versions of television ads, and I've seen two mentions in print that radio ads existed, although none have ever surfaced!