http://harpmagazine.com/articles/detail ... le_id=3711
Extract reads:
Stretch Leonard Cohen Doll
When Kenner Toys debuted its Stretch Armstrong doll in 1976, practically every American kid begged his parents for one. But for some reason the rubber action hero with the elastic limbs failed to find its way into the hearts of Canadian children. After months of exhaustive research, Kenner's marketing department thought it had the problem licked. Canadian kids, it reasoned, were feeling alienated by the glut of American superhero action figures flooding Canada's toy stores--they wanted to play with Canadian superheroes. When Kenner discovered that there were no Canadian superheroes to "stretchify," it set its sights on popular musicians of the Great White North. Stretch Leonard Cohen was introduced in November of '78 (timed to coincide with the release of the singer's Death of a Ladies Man LP) and proved to be the poorest-selling toy in Canadian history. ("It looks just like my principal," one unimpressed preteen is said to have remarked.) As a result, Kenner preemptively halted production of its Stretch Randy Bachman doll.
