Mego ruled the 1970s toy game with Spider-Man, The Fonz, and Ball Buster

Founded in 1954 by D. David Abrams, the Mego Corporation was a family-run business that originally churned out cheap, no-name toys for sale in dime stores. That all changed in 1971,
when Abrams’ son Martin took over Mego and switched the company’s focus to eight-inch-tall action figures, many based on licensed franchises from film and television, including (but not limited to) Star Trek, Planet Of The Apes, The Waltons, Happy Days, The Wizard Of Oz, Starsky And Hutch, The Little Rascals, Logan’s Run, King Kong, and an assortment of DC and Marvel superheroes, including Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and Hulk. By the end of the decade, Mego was one of America’s largest toy manufacturers.
Part of the company’s success came from its aggressive television advertising campaigns, which were focused directly at kids instead of their parents and included open-ended fantasy scenarios that children could reenact at home. A YouTube channel called wirthwhilemusic has assembled a very entertaining, hour-long compilation of vintage Mego ads from the company’s heyday. The ads show a great deal of inventiveness and wit. An ad for a Fonzie figure begins with mock testimonials from Wonder Woman, Farrah Fawcett, Cher, and Golda Meir. (“He’s a regular pussycat!”)