Popular Culture
Wallace and Gromit have been used in numerous advertising campaigns down the years. The duo were used to promote a Harvey Nichols store that opened in Bristol (where Aardman is based) in 2008. The pictures show them, and Lady Tottington from The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, wearing designer clothes and items. They were also used to prevent a Wensleydale cheese factory from shutting down due to financial difficulties after a member of staff came up with the idea to use Wallace and Gromit as mascots, as Wensleydale is one of Wallace's favourite cheeses.
Wallace and Gromit have also been used as the TV Station Ident for Christmas periods for the BBC, in both 1995 and 2008.
The duo were parodied as Willis and Crumble in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Angry Dad: The Movie". Nick Park also made a voice cameo as himself in the same episode.
The theme song was used to wake up astronauts aboard space shuttle mission STS-132 in May 2010. It has been suggested on BBC Radio 4's PM that the theme should become the England football supporters' song, instead of The Great Escape main title theme.
In December 2010, while appearing on Desert Island Discs, Nick Park announced that he was working with Pleasure Beach Blackpool to build a theme park ride based on the characters.
Read more about this topic: Wallace And Gromit
Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, popular and/or culture:
“Like other secret lovers, many speak mockingly about popular culture to conceal their passion for it.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“When we want culture more than potatoes, and illumination more than sugar-plums, then the great resources of a world are taxed and drawn out, and the result, or staple production, is, not slaves, nor operatives, but men,—those rare fruits called heroes, saints, poets, philosophers, and redeemers.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)