Monkey Promotional Toy
- Made:
- 1998 in unknown place
This image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
License
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Monkey toy produced to promote ON-digital television service, 1998. Unknown maker.
Promotional ‘Monkey’ character soft toys were given to subscribers of ITV Digital (originally launched in 1998 as ‘ONdigital’), the world’s first digital terrestrial television network. The original Monkey was created by the Jim Henson Company via their UK Creature Shop and appeared in adverts relating to the television company ITV Digital alongside comedian Johnny Vegas. ONdigital was a failed venture into paid-for digital broadcasting, lasting only from 1998 to 2002. It suffered issues with low number of subscribers, poor channel reception, late supply of boxes, and was easily pirated. It also had fierce competition from Rupert Murdoch’s BskyB digital satellite service.
Monkey has survived the downfall of ITV Digital and is now better known for appearing in television adverts for tea brand PG Tips and has become its own cultural icon beyond its original purpose.
