Though he came to admire the Force and lightsabers as his character evolved, Han Solo proved quite the critic in “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” telling starry-eyed farm boy Luke Skywalker that “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.” We would like to think that if the smuggler were a contemporary consumer, he would adopt the same positive opinion about well-chosen promotional products, especially drinkware items.
Long a fan favorite whose death in 2015’s “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens” still has folks we know upset, the pilot will serve as the subject of an eponymous anthology film that holds its world premiere today in Los Angeles and opens nationwide May 25. Six brands will help Disney tout the exploits of Princess Leia’s favorite scruffy-looking nerf herder, but the one that could have wowed us the most, the Solo Cup Company, has left us a tad disappointed.
Though the packaging features stars Alden Ehrenreich and Joonas Suotamo (as Chewbacca), the cups themselves are just plain old Solo cups. We get it—reconfiguring Solo’s cup design for a one-off promotion probably wouldn’t have been easy or cheap—but we still can’t help but feel the cups were a missed opportunity. The overall product is still better than certain Star Wars dialogue, at least.
https://twitter.com/justjenn/status/993154122198138880
Solo cups. For real. Cups inside the branded packaging are the same, though. #SoloAStarWarsStory pic.twitter.com/rBhT8y0t8P
— Star Wars Radar (@StarWarsRadar) May 3, 2018
We giddily reported on news of the “Solo”/Solo connection two months ago, so we’re thankful we didn’t have to wait that long for the cups’ appearance, as we likely would have turned to the Dark Side had our disenchantment been any greater. Yes, we concede that the manufacturer’s decision to drink up the publicity by joining Denny’s, Esurance, General Mills, Nissan and Symantec is commendable, but unless there are some serious plastic packaging enthusiasts among us, the promotional concept might not have enough pull to help the good achieve the marketing equivalent of making the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs.
While plenty of devotees gobble up all things “Star Wars” with as much ambition as the Rancor goes after its victims, we could just imagine many obsessed supporters deeming this concept as fruitless as Luke’s “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back” attempt to remove his X-wing from the Dagobah swamp. In other words, Solo could have used the consulting world’s version of Yoda to give the movie a bit more branding glory via the cups.
We do not want to come across as completely ungrateful, as we are thrilled that one of our favorite wiseacres will have his tale told and that Solo has acknowledged that via the packaging and other means to mark the release. How nice, though, would it have been had Solo not been such a maverick and instead added elaborately branded drinkware to the impressive lines that have lauded the crew from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
