Every Whizzer and Chips Free Gift (Part 2 of 3)

First off: whoops! I know this post was promised for a quite some time ago but I got swept up in things and then it slipped my mind! I do apologise, but better late than never. I left off in 1975, with the Super Jet Joke Camera, and pick up again in 1979. That may seem like a long time to go without a gift, but until more recent years such a length of time was not unusual. A set of rub down transfers known as Kalkitos were given away with the 10th birthday issue. It's striking to see how different the comic looks from its first issue (see here for my post on the first issue), and of course it would look vastly different again in another ten years. Whizzer and Chips was absolutely a comic that continued to evolve with the times, surely a reason for its longevity. 

A packet of Sweet Tooth drops were given away with issue dated 4th October 1980. These "fruit flavour drops", also available to buy in stores, were identical on the outside but had a Sweet Tooth comic printed on the inside. There were twenty different strips all up, here's a couple (and please email me pictures if you have any of the others!).

A Weetabix badge was the next gift given away. Obviously a promotional item, this badge was one of five, each of which were given away with a different IPC comic the week dated 12th June 1982. As you can see from this advert, they came with that week's Buster, Tiger, Whoopee, Tammy and, of course, Whizzer and Chips. The badges reflected an advertising comic strip that appeared in the comics at the time (and apparently a television advert too), with each badge depicting a different character - Dunk, Brian, Crunch, Brains and Bixie. Unfortunately I'm not sure who the artist was. Brains came with Whizzer and Chips, although the advert mistakenly calls the comic just Whizzer, perhaps mistaking Chips for a merged-in comic similar to Jackpot was with Buster and Jinty was with Tammy. Yikes! I'm not sure how that mistake made it past the editor...

Readers didn't have to wait too long for their next gift, however, with the Magic Messages Writing Pad given away with issue dated 10th February 1982. As the pad explains: "You can write secret messages with this magic writing pad. Using a soft lead pencil, write your message on the top sheet and when it has been read, erase the words by lifting both sheets together. The magic pad will then be ready to use again". Sounds perfect for passing notes in class without the embarrassment of the teacher reading it aloud for all to hear!

Next up is this Playmobil figurine. I"m not sure if a selection of characters were given away or just the one, but nonetheless this American-style Sheriff came with issue dated 4th June 1983. I always thought Playmobil was aimed at a slightly younger audience than Whizzer and Chips' target range of 8-12 year olds, but I could be wrong.

The 14th birthday issue dated 8th October 1983 had a free gift to accompany the celebrations, this time a Smurfs sticker book and a packet of stickers to help readers get started. I used to be into stickers as a kid, in fact I actually completed (but have sadly since lost) an Indiana Jones sticker book, so I bet a gift like this went down a treat. I know I'd have been happy with it anyway.

The next gift wasn't quite so exciting: a Heinz Invaders Badge given away with issue dated 12th May 1984. Basically, this was pasta that was shaped as spaceships. It certainly seems that by this point the free gifts were more of an advertising product than the toy that they had been in the comic's earlier days. 

The next gift just further goes to illustrate this point, with another Weetabix-themed gift with issue dated 16th June 1984. This one was very simple, basically a picture of Crunch, one of the Weetabix gang, with the front cover claiming the reader could turn him into a badge, key fob or pendant.

The next gift was a set of Stinky Stickers, which came with issue dated 3rd November 1984. "As advertised on TV", these stickers could apparently be scratched and sniffed, with 88 flavours to collect ranging from skunk and old shoes to liquorice and popcorn. 

I'll wrap it up there for Part Two to keep all three parts roughly even in length. As you can see above, most of the gifts around this time were paid promotional products, which I'm sure was all well and good for the financial situation at the Whizzer and Chips offices but aren't quite as fun for us to look back on. The final few years offers a bit more of a mixture and includes some original Whizzer and Chips themed gifts, so stay tuned! I promise Part 3 will be published soon.

Part 1: http://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2023/05/every-whizzer-and-chips-free-gift-part.html

Part 3: http://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2023/07/every-whizzer-and-chips-free-gift-part_3.html