Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for August 25, 2022

Quite obviously, Calvin’s parents don’t believe this and get their son no-brand clothes from the bargain bin.

This is the comic Bill used in the Tenth Anniversary Book when he explained why he never licensed the comic or made merchandise.

I doubt that’s really going to help the companies because Calvin likes certain things for the wrong reasons.

You should wear Calvin Klein.

Happy 109th, Walt.

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” –Walt Kelly (1913 Aug. 25 – 1973 Oct. 18)

Individuality through paid collectivism.

I was mildly amused to discover that my dislike of branded clothing was anti-shared by Calvin when this strip ran the first time. Though I’m willing to wear corporate tees if THEY pay ME to do it (by giving me the shirt). I have a dozen or more tees from where I’ve worked and one from M&M that I got for voting on what new color I liked best (blue).

Welcome to the future. We now express “individuality” with our own unique “personal pronouns.”

That’s why people get tattoos, to be different like everybody else

It’s even worse when companies say: Be individual, buy our product!

And it all started with that little crocodile.

Get a job wearing a sandwich board, Calvin.

I prefer the Jerzees shirts myself because the tag is hidden while I can have my designs printed on them.

I had to admire the savvy of a young relative of mine who wouldn’t wear clothes with company ads on them. She stated that she refused to advertise a company on her butt.

That’s kind of why I tend to shy away from buying t-shirts with some business’ logo on it: If I’m advertising their product, they can pay ME to wear it.

I refuse to be anybody’s walking billboard. If I absolutely cannot avoid the manufacturer’s name on the clothing, it had better be SMALL and unnoticeable except for close inspection. Of course, if they PAID me, well, that’s another story.

That’s right, Cal. You are you and truly unique – just like everybody else. :D

Bill Watterson explained that part of the reason he was against the merchandising of Calvin and Hobbes was that he felt merchandising sentimentalised and weakened comic strips. He felt that the Peanuts characters became far too sentimental when they started being used in advertising. Another reason he was opposed to merchandising was that he was proud to have written and drawn this brilliant comic strip all by himself and he didn’t want to endorse anyone else’s use of his characters.

In the early days of designer jeans, comedian David Brenner used to tell jokes about people wearing other people’s names on their behinds.

I was never swayed and or convinced by Brand names, let alone wear them….

When I bought my last car the salesman said I would have to wait a few minutes while they put their decal on it. I asked him how much do I get paid to advertise their dealership. They didn’t put the decal on.

Calvin may think differently as he grows up and becomes his own person.

There will be a later story arc in which Calvin and Hobbes draw a safety poster for a competition and Calvin takes it very badly when they don’t win. Bill Watterson has explained that that story arc was inspired by a safety poster that he entered for a competition as a boy and was disqualified for using Snoopy in it. He says that this broke his heart but – unlike Calvin – he learned a lesson from it. Calvin didn’t do as badly as Bill Watterson. His health and safety poster sickened his classmates but he wasn’t actually disqualified as Bill Watterson was.

I see that people complained yesterday that I keep issuing spoilers. I never intend them as spoilers. I just says what comes into my head as I comment on my all-time favourite comic strip. My main complainants seem to be Brian and Sambora1. Brian once told me that I’m “almost as imaginative as Calvin” which I see as a compliment. Sambora1 often complains about some of my comments but has also liked some of my other comments on both Calvin and Hobbes and The Wizard of Id.

Calvin and Hobbes and Andy Capp are my two favourite strips. The Wizard of Id and Red and Rover are in strong competition for third place.

Where it was possible to do so, say, if it was a sewn on patch, I have actually removed company logos from clothing. I still have a Nike windbreaker on which, if you look closely, you can see the thread holes where the patch used to be.

Heck, I don’t even like company logos on my coffee mugs.

I hate giving free advertising. When I purchase a new vehicle, I have the stealership remove any form of advertisement for their business, mainly license plate frames and rear panel emblems.

Ad I now see “The Sneakers Make The Man”. Really wrong on so many fronts

At the boarding school I went to, the kids expressed their individuality by being like each other. I stood out as I simply wore what I was comfortable with, which was both boring and supposedly conformist.

The Monty Python joke in Life of Brian about how ’we’re all individuals’ really did pass them by…

https://youtu.be/QereR0CViMY

I remember reading this comic as a kid. Made me rethink the branded clothing I saw around me, and I’ve never wanted to wear any. My shirts have pictures on them, but they’re nature and animal scenes, nothing corporate.

Well, when he puts it that way…

They do not want you to express individuality they want you to …….. Build Character!

This is what I tried to convince my kids of when they wanted to by $50 Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirts.

Amen.

Pretty good wat to make money if you ask me. What would “Wheaties” be without athlete endorsements. …do they still sell wheaties?

Just do it.

Like everyone else.

I want to be a nonconformist like everyone else!

It actually is the American way. I read an article about how tourists are spotted as being Americans when traveling abroad. One of the ways was our penchant for wearing topical shirts. We do that more than any other nationality.

When I was in high school, it was the 90’s “Starter Jackets.” They were like $150 and quite ridiculous, but if you didn’t have one, you weren’t “cool.”

Why should I ever pay to be a walking advertisement? Shouldn’t they be paying me?

You know, there are some comics that just stick with you, and this is one of them. The first time I read it, decades ago, I found it so eye opening that I think about it “all” the time! I see people wearing their Nike shirts or whatever it may be, and think, "You paid the company “how” much to advertise for them? Kinda sad really.

“I am a part of this tribe and that makes me better than you.”

The third panel is exactly why I don’t wear clothes with logos on them. A small embroidered polo player on the breast of a polo shirt or a Nike swoosh on my sneakers don’t bother me any, but that’s as much as I’ll tolerate.

I live in a coastal tourist town. Some days I swear I am the only man on the street NOT wearing a t-shirt.

Turning a t-shirt into an ad that you willingly wear is crazy enough. What I really don’t understand is why my cotton briefs have to have the manufacturer’s name on them in four-inch-high letters. I know what I bought and do not frequent public baths, so who else needs to know – the sweatshop workers who make them?

I have thought that for years. When those things first came out, even the companies considered them free advertisement. But apparently they wondered if their company was so special that people actually would PAY that company to advertise for them. They were correct. Not me, man! I take the car dealer sticker or emblem off the car – I certainly wouldn’t put a huge decal on my back window with the name of the car brand – and won’t wear clothes such as t-shirts that advertise any company – period. I figure if they want me to advertise for them, they can pay me – or give me the item free!

If you want to look like an individual you can make your own clothes. Nobody else has those. You can start by dyeing your own t-shirts

My brother takes all the insignia off a car when he buys one. “Why should I advertise for them?”

I have always loved that Calvin’s shirt has the same ‘Tiger Stripes’ as Hobbes.

I saw a couple yesterday that are advertising for Golden Corral.

I no longer support Coca-Cola but I had a similar discussion a few years ago about their logo on t-shirts. WHY would we pay to advertise for them? (Also applies to Nike)

This is so true with designer purses. If they don’t have a huge logo, or a design that’s exclusive to that brand, some women won’t buy them. It’s all about status. “Look at me. I just paid an exorbitant amount of money for this purse, and now I’m a walking advertisement.” Sheesh.

I’m not crazy about strips where Calvin talks with dripping irony, like a walking parody rather than a real human being. That’s the province of “Dilbert.”

This is definitely one of my “OK boomer” pet peeves. Why the hell should I pay $30 to become a walking billboard for Under Armor or Nike or whoever? How about this: sell me a pair of shoes and throw in the shirt, and maybe I’ll wear it when I’m doing yard work, OK?

This strip brought to mind a scene from the 1970’s Bob Newhart Show. Bob is dressed for a tennis tournament and is talking to Jerry in front of Carol’s desk. Jerry mocks him for not wearing an Izod shirt:

Jerry: You’re not going to play in that shirt, are you?

Bob: Why not?

Jerry: It’s got a canary on it.

Bob: What’s wrong with a canary?

Jerry: It’s not an alligator!

Bob: That’s very true, Jerry. And do you know what else isn’t an alligator?

Carol (raising her hand with an answer): A camel?

Bob: Very good.

Thank you Mr. Watterson!

Cue the dust up between Watterson and Berkeley Breathed.

As Fran Drescher said in this 2003 Old Navy holiday commercial: “How ’bout a little logo… a go-go?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr9ikgbww4A

Many many years ago, when I was a kid, I asked my dad to order a Charlie Tuna beach towel. He told he that he wasn’t going to pay to advertise for a tuna company, they had to pay him instead. That turned on the a light bulb in my head that never turned off. Still amazed me to see women walking around with giant logos across their butts, like PINK.

Calvin, if you want to express yourself, go to Redbubble.

When I see a shirt displaying a company logo in a store I ask “how much are they paying me to wear this?”

My first experience of this was early 70’s. I saw a beach towel with a Coke logo design. I thought “Hm, I’d be willing to advertise Coke for a free beach towel” and then discovered they wanted ME to pay THEM: what?!

When I had to wear khaki pants to work I used a seam ripper to remove the manufacturer’s logo that so many brands have sewn on. I refuse to wear anything with a logo without a signed compensation contract.

Copyright 1992 – Calvin was an ‘influencer’ years ahead of his time!

Harley-Davidson can stay alive on t-shirt sales alone.

My awful ex-husband had a corporate logo tattooed on his hip. That should have been a red flag…

Not me!!! When I got my 1999 Dodge Dakota Sport I took off all the things that were on the truck even the dealership decal and license plate frame. Only thing that remains on my truck is V8 Magnum on the front fenders. Neither Dodge or the dealership paid me to advertise for them.

Does this apply to sports teams? I’m not giving up my Local Sportsball Team™ cap and sweatshirt. Gotta REPRESENT!

(I’ve worn other branded ballcaps and T-shirts, because they were free…)

Watterson scores another hit against consumerism.

Calvin’s sarcasm is lost n Hobbes. Or maybe not.

This six year old will be a name to reckon in advertising world one day.

Yet you somehow get owned, which does not seem to reflect individuality.

An anagram of “express individualty” is “Is sexed-up and virility.”

sad but true

Honestly, I’m more comfortable getting shirts that are just a solid color with nothing on either side.