7-Eleven: Free Slurpee Day

It may be hard to comprehend, but there was a time before super hero movies opened the floodgates to merchandising.

1977 7-Eleven Spider-Man Cup

Since Superman first rocketed to Earth, there have been crossover promotions and toys and apparel. Not on the scale it is today, but enough to allow the fanboy faithful to show their allegiance with the four-color counterpart of choice.

In the 1970s Marvel proved masters of merchandising. Just on the fringe. Superman the Movie may have proved popular at the box office, but the collectibles were still not forthcoming.

Let’s face it, if you wanted a super hero shirt, it was purchased from the ad pages of a comic book. You weren’t buying off the rack at the local department store.

That’s why promotions like the Marvel Slurpee cups were so welcomed. They provided another dimension to our worlds. We could not only read about our heroes, but drink from cups with their likenesses plastered on the front.

And, it was something our parents would buy us without much fuss. It was like a reverse Trojan Horse; you got your Slurpee, but it came in a super hero cup. A two-fer.

There were only 40-drinking glasses in the 1977 series. The 1975 collection featured 60. However, the ’77 offerings were visually more stimulating with an action sequence. Like the 1975 predecessors, the more popular characters are featured on more than one cup.

National 7-Eleven Day was first celebrated in 2002. The convenience store is widely regarded as the first of its type, established in 1927, then known as the Southland Ice Company. When the company expanded its hours in 1947, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., it changed its name.

Drink responsibly, don’t risk a brain freeze.