Globi is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

cartoon character occasionally referred to as Switzerland's

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

. He is pictured as an anthropomorphic blue parrot with a yellow beak wearing a black beret and a pair of red and black checkered trousers. He was created by the Swiss cartoonist

Robert Lips Robert Lips (21 August 1912 – 28 February 1975), was a Swiss cartoonist. He is best known as the creator of the cartoon character ''Globi'' for Globus. He was also a fencer and competed in the individual and team épée events at the 1948 Sum ...

, as an advertising character for the Swiss department store Globus in 1932 for the company's 25th anniversary. He was originally planned to be called "Kimbukku", but later renamed Globi after the local Basel German ''(Baseldytsch)'' dialect word for the department store that created him.

History

He initially appeared in a cartoon strip called ''Der Globi'', and later appeared in a cartoon picture-book form called ''Globi's World Voyage'' in 1935. By 1944, the character gained so much popularity that Globus created a separate company for it, and in 1948 Globi had sold over one million picture books. He was introduced in other markets such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Brazil, but did not do as well. In the 1970s, he was accused of being

sexist Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, and promoting violence, which was based on the attitudes of the 1940s and 1950s, but the articles in question were then withdrawn and revised.

Present

He is one of the most popular characters in the German-Speaking part of Switzerland, with sales of over 9 million books. However, he stays mostly unknown in the French and Italian speaking parts of the country. In October 2003, a full-length film, ''Globi and the Stolen Shadows'' was made which was based on him. It was directed by Robi Engler in Anime-style. Beside the books, there is a lot of Globi

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

, including

cuddly toy A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be cal ...

s, crockery, cutlery, clocks, school equipment, card games, food. From December 2008, the Swiss town of Engelberg hosts a Globi theme park.

References

External links

Globi's website (in German)
Swiss comic strips 1932 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1932 Swiss comics characters Advertising characters Swiss culture Birds in art Fictional Swiss people Fictional parrots Anthropomorphic animal characters Male characters in comics Male characters in animation Male characters in advertising Comics adapted into animated films {{fict-char-stub