KISS fans are lapping up the relaunch of an 1980s ice block, raiding stores and auctioning off merchandise on eBay before the product has even hit the shelves.
Peters Ice Cream has re-issued the 1980 KISS “Thunderbolt” ice block, named after 1976 hit God of Thunder, to coincide with the KISS Monster Tour later this month.
Paul Stanley said the original “popsicle”, launched to coincide with Unmasked tour (See video below), was an indication of how big they were at the time.
“When we first came to Australia we knew we were big,” Stanley tells fans on YouTube. “Kissteria had gripped the nation and we heard about how massive we were and we had this huge following and we were a phenomenon, this was the sign of a real phenomenon, that we also had popsicles named after us.
Justin Lloyd
KISS bassist Gene Simmons still has 12 of the original boxes from the 1980s ice blocks.
While the Thunderbolt is a replica of the original, it has been updated for today’s tastes. In the 1980’s the black tip was grape flavour, now it’s cola.
Rumours started among the Kiss Army about the Australia-only ice block two weeks ago. Micro-blog and fan sites started talking about the product when a grainy picture of a Caltex catalogue revealed the icy pole would be sold in StarMarts in February.
Despite being a huge Kiss Fan, Peters’ Ice Cream route service team manager Mark Garrett had to keep the secret, despite having to organise the delivery of the ice blocks.
“My first concert was in the 1990s so I missed the initial Kissmania. They were unmasked at the time I saw them and they were probably not in fashion at all but there was something about them. The image and the music … it just drew you in,”he said.
One point-of-sale advertising stand is already on Ebay for an asking price of $50.
Kiss is one of the most successful bands when it comes to marketing and merchandising selling everything from hats and T-shirts to funeral caskets, gnomes and wedding party paraphernalia.