Dokyo

A few days ago I received an email from an illustration studio in Barcelona. At first I was surprised that a company had contacted me (I wondered whether it might be some kind of image-rights complaint), but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise: they were getting in touch because of one of the collections made by my seven-year-old son, the Bollyjumps Team Simpsons collection. As everyone knows, Panrico includes items with many of its products to encourage sales among children, and some not-so-young collectors as well, encouraging people to build collections. Rather than make this too long, here is the interesting part. This Barcelona studio, www.juanmagarcia.net, wrote the following email: "Good morning, my friend. I am Juanma García and I run an illustration studio in Barcelona, www.juanmagarcia.net. At the studio we invented and patented Fingers Bomb®, a children's toy that jumps and flies and is ideal for use as an in-pack promotion. The first licence for the patent, as shown on your blog, was granted to Panrico® for a very large quantity using characters from The Simpsons®. The item, under the name BOLLYJUMP, can be found as an in-pack promotion with its Bollycao Dokyo® and Mañanitos® brands, and its launch was accompanied by a major television campaign featuring a commercial promoting the toy. Your comment about the item caught our attention: '...One of them has been the Team Simpsons Bollyjumps. Pieces of plastic-coated cardboard that I still have not worked out what to do with. There are 10 in total, representing members of the Simpson family doing different sports.' This is how FINGERS BOMB (or BOLLYJUMP) works. Video: http://youtu.be/-hBvpH1bbOA Website: www.fingersbomb.com. A hug, and congratulations on your blog!" I cannot say whether the television advert was shown a lot or only a little, because I do not watch much television and my son mainly watches children's channels such as Clan, Boing and similar channels, where there tend to be fewer adverts. I appreciate the email from Juanma García because, for anyone who was in the same position as me, with a collection but not knowing how to use it (especially the duplicates), these links finally show that they are meant to be played with; the rest is up to the children's imagination. Mine is already making use of the duplicates and has started some very high-flying battles. I asked for permission to tell you what had happened, and this was the reply: "Hi! You can put all this information on your blog, and if you need anything else, let us know. When you have uploaded it, send us a message and we will publish it on our Facebook page. Best regards! Juanma." It is good to see Spanish companies taking an interest in what happens with their products, whether they reach the public and whether their purpose is clear. I visited the studio's website and was surprised to see who is behind some of the things we see and simply consider part of the everyday advertising around us. Congratulations to the Juanma Garcia Escobar design studio in Barcelona.

A set of 10 foldable items showing different characters from The Simpsons taking part in various sports. Homer doing sport is already funny enough on its own. I managed to fold them, but apart from putting them on my fingers I could not think of much else to do with them. As I like Dokyo, it is another collection to keep.

A series of stickers featuring the Spanish national football team and flags of the main countries that took part in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.