From a 1977 Marvel comic that presented the band as superheroes to a new line of make-up festooned Hello Kitty items, Kiss has perfected a merchandising aesthetic across successive generations.
And anyone who questions founder Gene Simmons, who spearheads those efforts, won’t receive any apologies.
“Kiss outperforms, we outsell the Beatles and Elvis put together,” Simmons tells World Screen in this clip. “We have 4,800 licenses, everything from Kiss condoms to Kiss caskets. All together now: We’ll get you coming, and we’ll get you going.”
Action figures and a pinball machine followed the comic, in 1978. There have also been trading cards, board games, lighters, toy guitars and a Visa card, among countless other items. The Kiss Kasket began production in 2001. Kiss Kondoms followed introduced in 2002.
BrandWeek magazine’s Sandra O’Loughlin has estimated that Kiss is now a nearly $1 billion brand.
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but you’re still a jackass Mr Simmons
That statement, however valid when it was actually made, only proves right Andy Warhol’s statement about everyone having, in their lives, at least 15 minutes of fame. And KISS wasn’t the only band, or performer, to have done just that, oursell the Beatles and Elvis, yes, combined, at a given point in time, in the last 60 years. Elton John, Garth Brooks, Eminem, Michael Jackson, and those just come to mind, all did that, in different periods. But, as of this date, KISS’s official record sales tallies with the RIAA, in the US (20 million albums vs over 300 million for the Beatles and Elvis), or even counting Soundscan (less than 10 million vs 100 million for the Beatles and Elvis ) when put together come to about one tenth, yes, one tenth, of those of Elvis and the Beatles combined….
The quote – and, in fact, the whole item – refers to merchandising, not record sales.