I made this one just cause it looked like fun. http://wildandbad.com/imagelib/124.jpg?1313600113

This is somewhere between a suggestion & a finished digi-prop as I didn't have software to make the candy box- Mercury Men candy: Turn your mouth into a Gravity Engine! http://tinyurl.com/44phvwc If you want these you can really have them (including the moons), although they only have one M printed on them. :) Of course if you ignore the "&" in the name you can get back to two M's. Yes, they are in delicious black & white.

I already mentioned this on your original digital props video post but my suggestion was a wikipedia to link together the backstory of each of the digital props rather than just a simple comment. Without some kind of introduction to it, it makes it seem like you actually made the "merchandise" when you really haven't. It may be fun but it may take away from the art without folks first being introduced to it with the great explanation that you gave in the video post about the digital props and why they were created. Without the introduction, it might make it seem like you're trying to pull one over on people and making up fake stuff (trying too hard to pretend like you're popular when you aren't). There is a trend for the younger generation to distrust traditional "fake" marketing in favor of social marketing. What are their friends buying, etc.

I'm more of an "idea man" so here are a few that spring to mind when thinking of my childhood...

Fake comic ad with mm merchandise. Conveniently have the year of release for a beta max/VHS tape torn off the edge.

fake contest magazine advertisement [and sticker for other MM merchandise] where the grand prize winner gets a complete MM collection [Digital Props] and to spend a day with Jack Yeager! This could even be combined with the first idea.

Mad magazine cover and interior strip

Official MM magazine with collector's club membership.

Newspaper movie theater/ drive in show times add

Sunday Newspaper comic strip. Purposefully have some missing, asking for site visitors to provide scans to complete the sites archive. One strip has would show Jack in a death trap. The next strip would be missing. The third would have him proclaim his safety and about to thank his rescuer, but the last panel would look like a dog ripped it up!

Sears Wish Book pages filled with Mercury Men [digital prop] items like;
Bed sheets, child sized tent, sleeping bag, window curtain, pajamas, t shirts, tennis shoes, underroos, beach towel, set of soap tray, hair brush, tooth brush & cup holder

No licensing campaign can be complete without a metal lunch box!

A box of valentine day cards.

party favors, birthday invitations, napkins, table cloth, balloons.

Customized birthday cake with plastic toppers.

Greeting cards.

School supplies kit; pencil, erasers, pens, ruler & pencil case. Folder, Trapper Keeper
stationary/pad of paper.

Been Cooper style Halloween costumes

Stretch Mercury Invader in the vein of Stretch Hulk & Spider-man.

MM branded Walkie Talkie

Happy Meal toys.

7/11 promotional drink cups.

Buble-gum machine style stickers and mini figure.

Mercury Engineer Ice scream face on a stick with gum ball eyes. Hopefully you remember the Batman ones you'd get from the Ice cream truck as a kid.
http://x-entertainment.com/updates/entries/archives/00000226.html

A bag of 100 army men styled Mercury men. You could have different assortments of invaders and engineers and mixed. One human figure would be secretly packed in to entice children
to " build a Mega sized Mercury Men invasion force to collect and trade every character from the Mercury men feature film!"

Soundtrack art for 8 track, cassette tape and record album cover with track listing and liner notes.
You could even have a Disco version as a parody of the Star Wars. I'm also reminded of the awesome full color floppy book that came with the Star wars record.

covers for the novelization (hard back and paperback), child sized story books with a movie adaption of and "further adventures of jack Yeager". Make sure to add a "read along" record book as well Coloring and activity books.

Calender.

Some other things that would require more filming would be
Some PSA tv adds would kick ass!
http://starwars77-80.blogspot.com/2010/11/star-wars-psas.html
Action figure commercials would be really fun as well!
80's style music video.
Cartoon series. At least the opening theme.
70's era variety hour special in the vein of the Star Wars Holiday special would be the best!
edited TV interviews with Johnny Carson and other 70's era late night hosts.
Other edited together TV reviews from that era's reviewers would be fun to watch.

http://flic.kr/p/aeBjYF

A membership card seemed pretty natural. I won't lie, I wasn't paying attention or I'd have noticed that the recruiting poster had one. Of course, now that it's done, I'm not going to throw it out. Anyway, I thought the Control Creed could be on the back. I wanted to add a badge or a decoder ring, perhaps. I've never consumed an entire series and then made something for it in a single day before. This series is invigorating. I do hope for more.

How about an iPhone app with "digital" playing cards. Perhaps make it with a Mercury Men iPhone game and cards can be won at different challenging levels!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/72590557/1979-star-wars-artoo-detoos-activity

Not sure if you guys are old enough to remember the Star Wars activity books from the late 70's. There was a whole series of these books ranging from Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca to Darth Vader. Would be a great digital prop to try to recreate in MM style!!

a vinyl sticker book (a book with glossy pages that comes with a set of vinyl stickers that can be repeatedly rearranged)
or
a children's book with a companion record (or one of them new fangled cassette tapes)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66674602@N08/6062442221/in/photostream

I love Mercury Men and I did this after the first few episodes just out of fun. I took the Star Wars and Indy inspiration and went with a cover of a Mercury Men comic series as it would'e been if made by Marvel in the 1970s.

I hope you guys like it. :)

Here's the candy box for the candy mentioned above. I re-tasked (retconned) two other MM props and used them in context with the candy so it's a Russian nested doll prop within a prop. :) I even colored in the coloring prop but made the walkie-talkie into a candy box. You wouldn't be mistaken to think that Edward is making a try for Jack's candy perhaps, lol. This makes it an infinitely nested candy box and thus "fractal packaging art" (!). In the other nested prop the Mercury Invader hand is reaching for a candy. This made me think of a certain cereal with a rabbit trying to steal it. :) The wintergreen moons are so you can go into a dark room in front of a mirror and "make lightning" in your mouth- you all should know of what I speak. :) http://tinyurl.com/3l43rdm

If I'm going to call it fractal candy box art it might as well show it instead of alluded to it. :) http://tinyurl.com/43enpwo

I'll make this the last iteration of the candy box. I'm sure it could be improved upon or redesigned to look better but the real fun became re-tasking previous props for a candy context. It sure appears like Edward wants Jack's candies. :) http://tinyurl.com/3mnwdck
Jack Yaeger: "Nobody lays a hand on my Mercury Men candies!"