Star Wars has found a new home and a new star. The launch of Disney+ as a standalone option has been a financial success. It’s also been a huge hit with fans and critics. In addition to opening up the vault of Disney classic films, officials at Disney have used this venture to bring forward a new series.
Set in the Star Wars universe, The Mandalorian brings viewers along with the adventures of a Mandalorian bounty hunter. Of all the characters portrayed on the show, it is one in particular that has garnered the lion’s share of attention and a lot of love from viewers.
That character is known as ‘The Child’ or ‘Baby Yoda’ to fans. Baby Yoda was an instant hit when the series premiered. Viewers were enchanted the first time he showed up on the small screen.
Fans continue to find the character adorable. At the same time, the character has created some headaches for studio officials. Disney is known for many things. One of the many ways the company has earned money is via the use of marketing their products. Fans love buying items related in some way to the characters they see on the large and small screens. Baby Yoda is no exception. The new character has understandably led to a slew of Baby Yoda products flooding the markets. There are dozens of different things for sale via online outlets like Etsy and eBay. Crafters offer lots of homemade dolls for collectors or anyone in search of a fun gift for someone they love. There are lots of different tee shirts, mugs of all kinds, plush toys, quilts, and almost anything anyone can imagine making use of this new character. While it’s understandable that people are rushing to cash on this new phenomenon, doing so poses an issue for the creator and for Disney itself. This has not gone unnoticed by Disney executives. Under the law, the company has the right to demand the removal of any kind of Baby Yoda products. For officials at the company, the ongoing question has been how to react and what to do to make sure that any merchandise offered is licensed by the company officially and meets all necessary quality standards. To that end, they’ve taken several steps. The first has been reporting such items whenever seen in any outlet for copyright violation. This has proven to be of moderate success. Many sellers have stopped selling these products entirely. Others have taken a different tack as they still continue to offer such items on Etsy. They backed off from using terms like Baby Yoda that might be caught in a simple search and face the possibility of being removed or having the seller’s account suspended entirely. Instead, they’ve been opting to use terms that are vaguer and yet clearly designed to refer to the character. Terms like ‘yodoll’ and ‘the baby’ have allowed sellers to argue they’re not really in violation of any kind of Disney copyright. The second thing officials at the company have done is create their own official versions of Baby Yoda merchandise to sell to the public. Fans can buy them on the Disney website. They’ve also worked the Build-a-Bear chain to create a version of Baby Yoda. While many fans want to get access to it, it won’t be available for several months. In the meantime, there are a few things that remain clear to all observers. The first is people will figure out a way to sell these products in some form. The second is Disney will be there attempting to stop them!Disney’s Marketing Efforts
Not Legal
Different Selling Strategies
Disney’s Baby Yoda Merch
