As “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens” continues to demolish record after record at the box office, you’ve probably noticed that the hype has extended far beyond the movie theater. Take a stroll down the aisle of just about any store and you’ll find some sort of Star Wars-themed product. Browse the Internet and you’ll be hard-pressed to avoid stories about the movie or various related advertisements.
Here are just a few examples of how the force hype has been with us this season:
- Light-saber profile pictures on Facebook: The social media network has introduced several politically charged filters to add to your profile picture in the past, including rainbow overlays for when the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and French flag overlays for the aftermath of the attacks in Paris. With Star Wars, Facebook went full commercial, giving people the option to add a light-saber to their photos.
- Covergirl dark/light makeup: In perhaps the most unexpected example of a brand jumping aboard the Star Wars hype train, Covergirl began offering a line of makeup—including metallic lipsticks, futuristic mascaras and various nail polishes—that allowed customers to choose a “dark side” or “light side” appearance.
- Themed slippers: Walking through department stores like Boston Store or Kohl’s, you’ll come across a wide variety of Star Wars-themed clothing items—but the ones that have stood out the most this year are the slippers. There are Chewbacca foot slippers, slippers that look like R2-D2 or storm trooper masks, slippers that resemble Yoda’s feet and much more.
- Spotify music playlists: For a limited time, streaming service Spotify looked at the types of music you were listening to and used that information to decide which character from the Star Wars world with which your tastes most align. If you listened to a lot of heavy metal, for example, you were probably much closer to the dark side than the light.
Brands certainly have not been shy about leveraging the full force of the Star Wars franchise to market their products in new (and fairly creative) ways. But as the movie reaches its fourth week in theaters, is there an end in sight to the mania? Obviously there is, but only time will tell for sure.