{{Short description|Fluffy toy}} {{Infobox toy | name = Weepul | image = File:Wk wuppies.JPG | image_size = | alt = Five weepul toys in various colors | caption = Five weepul toys in various colors | othernames = weeple, wuppie, wuppet | type = Promotional merchandise | inventor = Tom Blundell (BIPO, Inc.) | company = Weepuline, LLC | country = United States | from = 1971 | to = present | materials = | features = | slogan = creative, effective promotion | website = http://www.weepuls.com/ }}
The '''weepul''' (also known as a '''weeple''', '''wuppie''', or '''{{Not a typo|wuppet}}''') is a small, spherical, fluffy pom-pom toy, with large, plastic googly eyes, and no limbs. {{Not a typo|Weepuls}} come in various colors. Usually, {{Not a typo|weepuls}} possess antennae and also large paper feet, with an adhesive layer on the bottom, which is protected by a layer of plastic that is peeled off before deployment.
According to Rick Ebel, the weepul was created in 1971 by the Oklahoma City promotional firm, Bipo Inc. It was named by owner Tom Blundell after a stuffed doll his parents had taken to market several years earlier. Blundell figured the little-people stick-on would only be a flash in the pan, "but it just got a life to it, and it still isn't ready to die."<ref>"[http://www.igorinternational.com/press/promotional-products-business-naming.php What's in a Name?]", column by Rick Ebel, Igor – Naming and branding agency, November 2005</ref><ref name="Grundhauser">{{cite web|last1=Grundhauser|first1=Eric|title=Rediscovering the Wonderful World of Weepuls|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/whats-a-weepul|website=Atlas Obscura|accessdate=12 January 2018|date=13 January 2017}}</ref>
In the Netherlands the weepul was introduced as a marketing tool in the 1980s by the name of ''Wuppie''. The Wuppie was created by Tom Bodt and Eduard van Wensen, two promotion salesmen, who had been inspired by Weeples—which he discovered during a trip in the US in the 1970s. The {{Not a typo|Wuppies }} became popular after Father Abraham featured the {{Not a typo|wuppies}} in one of his songs. "World unique promotional product identity and emotion" is a backronym for ''wuppie''.<ref>"[http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/4562/Voetbal/article/detail/2349422/2006/06/20/De-ontdekker-van-de-wuppie-in-Amerika.dhtml De ontdekker van de wuppie in Amerika]" ("The discoverer of the wuppie in America"), news article Algemeen Dagblad, 20 June 2006</ref>
The {{Not a typo|wuppies}} became extremely popular in the summer of 1981. {{Not a typo|Wuppies}} were often given out as a prize from 1–900 numbers in the 1980s.
== Netherlands comeback == Twenty-five years later, {{Not a typo|wuppies}} made a comeback in the Netherlands. In 2006, the Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn re-introduced {{Not a typo|wuppies}} in a new campaign connected to the FIFA World Cup 2006 under the motto ''Wup Holland Wup'', a variation of ''Hup Holland Hup'' (''Go Holland Go''), a Dutch football chant.<ref>''[http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuws/)/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/2006/06_juni/14/binnenland/0614_2130_editienl_verhaal.xml "Onverwacht succes: de comeback van de wuppie"] (Unexpected seller: the comeback of the wuppie)'' - Report from the RTL 4 news of June 14. 2006</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ad.nl/economie/article372665.ece |title="Comeback Wuppie bij AH" |accessdate=2006-12-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924043105/http://www.ad.nl/economie/article372665.ece |archivedate=September 24, 2008 }} - Article in the Algemeen Dagblad of June 1. 2006</ref> Albert Heijn used {{Not a typo|wuppies}} produced in orange, red, white and blue as a collectible trading stamp, functioning as part of a loyalty program. Three {{Not a typo|wuppies}} and a fee of €2.49 Euro could be exchanged for a "mega wup". Albert Heijn's wuppie campaign with the World Cup Wuppie Song ("With a Wup, we will win the World Cup") proved popular. Dutch media reported that cars which displayed such "mega wup" on their dashboards were sometimes broken into.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ad.nl/wkvoetbal/wkdichtbijoranje/article416109.ece |title='Laat niets van wuppiewaarde in de auto!' |accessdate=2006-12-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930033555/http://www.ad.nl/wkvoetbal/wkdichtbijoranje/article416109.ece |archive-date=September 30, 2007 }} ("Don't leave your wuppie alone in your car") by Gert Onnink, ''Algemeen Dagblad'', 20 June 2006</ref> A classroom of an elementary school in The Hague was burgled for its many {{Not a typo|wuppies}} on display in the window sills.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}
==See also== {{Portal|Toys|Marketing|1970s|1980s}} * Furby * Gonk * Squirmles
==References== <references />
Category:1970s toys Category:1980s toys Category:Novelty items Category:Promotion and marketing communications Category:Stuffed toys Category:Culture of the Netherlands