Thursday, January 29, 2015

1972 JC Penney Catalog with NFL Wrapper

I recently came across an interesting item on ebay that I had never seen before - a 1972 JC Penney Fall / Winter catalog with a wrapper featuring an offer for ordering NFL helmets:


According to what is written on the wrapper, it appears that this catalog was received on June 18, 1972:

 

It is interesting that the football that came with the helmet was red, white, and blue, as this would be more appropriate for an ABA basketball than an NFL football.


Here is a look at the catalog inside the wrapper:



As I covered in one of my earliest posts on this blog, the NFL did a much better job marketing to kids through merchandising than any of the other major sports, and this wrapper provides a great example.  Knowing that kids would be on the lookout for catalogs to see what kinds of things they could put on their Christmas wish list, including a NFL helmet offer on the wrapper for the catalog was one more way that the NFL was developing brand loyalty with their future customers.