Globi is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

cartoon character occasionally referred to as Switzerland's

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

. He is pictured as an anthropomorphic blue

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

with a yellow beak wearing a black

beret A beret ( , ; ; ; ) is a soft, round, flat-crowned cap made of hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre. Mass production of berets began in the 19th century in Southern France and the north of History of Spain (1808 ...

and a pair of red and black checkered trousers. He was created by the Swiss cartoonist Robert Lips, as an advertising character for the Swiss department store

Globus GLOBUS is a radar system in the town of Vardø in Vardø Municipality, Finnmark county, Norway. It is operated by the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) and its official uses are primarily space observation and Arctic airspace monitoring for Nor ...

in 1932 for the company's 25th anniversary. His name was originally planned as "Kimbukku", but he was later renamed Globi after the local

Basel German Basel German or (Standard German: ) is the dialect of the city of Basel, Switzerland. The dialect of Basel forms a Low Alemannic linguistic exclave in the High Alemannic region. Phonetics and phonology Consonants Aspirated plosives Base ...

''(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 their mascot, and in 1948 Globi had sold over one million picture books. He was introduced in other markets such as the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, 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 primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...

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 (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

, and promoting violence, which was based on the attitudes of the 1940s and 1950s, but the books 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. 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 is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

-style. Beside the books, there is a lot of Globi

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

, including

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

s, crockery, cutlery, clocks, school equipment, card games, food. Since December 2008, the Swiss town of

Engelberg Engelberg (lit.: ''mountain of angel(s)'') is a village resort and a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Obwalden in Switzerland. Alongside the central village of Engelberg, the municipality enc ...

has hosted a Globi

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

in its Brunni area.

References

External links

Globi's website (in German)
Swiss comic strips 1932 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1932 Swiss comics characters Advertising characters Parrots in art Fictional Swiss people Fictional parrots Anthropomorphic parrots Comics about anthropomorphic parrots Comics about talking animals Male characters in comics Male characters in animation Male characters in advertising Comics adapted into animated films Swiss mascots Bird mascots Mascots introduced in 1932 {{fict-char-stub