The Yellow Kid was one of the first comic characters used
in merchandising, prefiguring the indivisibility today of
cartoon figures and commercialism: by using the Kid's image,
a product would advertise both the Kid and the newspaper
it appeared in, along with the product itself. However, there's evidence that Outcault's own product got away from
him and was used without the artist benefitting monetarily
in any definable way. Outcault himself posed as both purveyor
of consumerism and critic of it; his dual position reveals
the newlywed marriage of popular culture and commerce.
 
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