Swedish pop legends ABBA didn’t escape the eye of the toy industry. In the 1970s, British company Matchbox launched a set of dolls based on Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Anni-Frid. The dolls measured 23 cm (9 inches approx) and came with their own costumes. Additional costumes were available to buy separately. The dolls were sold in the UK and other European countries. The below ad is from Denmark, 1978.
Denmark. 1978.
Matchbox made a great job of designing the clothes, even reproducing the famous ‘cat suits’ of Agnetha and Anni-Frid.
ABBA in cat suits, Bengt H Malmqvist. This well-known picture is taken at the Swedish Television building at Gärdet in Stockholm. Owe Sandström designed the wonderful cat suits worn by Anni-Frid and Agnetha. Photo and info taken from abbathemuseum.com
Bonus trivia: so far as TVTA is aware, ABBA is the only group with a palindromic name to score a hit with a palindromic title, namely SOS.
I’ll never forget the pair of ABBA tennis shoes my friend owned … & tho’ this is off subject, your blog prompted me to search my closet for my all time favorite toy — the Toot Sweet Candy Whistle Making Machine from 1968 (though it made many things other than whistles). My parents gave mine away to a family that couldn’t afford Christmas that year, which I totally get, but just the same, I never let them forget it & forty years later to the day my mom bought me another. Of course, I’m afraid to use it now BUT IT’S MINE!
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I didn’t know the Toot Sweet Candy Whistle Making Machine, so I looked online – what a wonderful toy! And great you ended up with a replacement all those years after. The box art for it is really cool too.
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