"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" had a great box office in Turkey on Dec. 17. The Star Wars craze has been in the works for months with news about the new episode, film trailers and posters, but the real impact was felt when merchandise promoting the film hit the shelves.
BIM, Turkey’s largest discount retailer, launched a major campaign to market all sorts of Star Wars merchandise: mugs, pillows, towels, notebooks, hats, T-shirts, pens, and so on. While other retailers such as Migros also manufactured Star Wars merchandise, BIM's products got the most public attention. This was interesting because BIM is known as a deep-discount retailer — the biggest in Turkey with over 4,500 branches that sell basic goods, particularly in low-income neighborhoods — and because it has a reputation of being a conservative outlet. The majority of its shares are owned by Mustafa Latif Toptas, one of the richest businessmen in Turkey, and who has good relations with Justice and Development Party (AKP) elites. BIM also has branches in Morocco and Egypt.
BIM’s marketing of the Star Wars merchandise took the film to remote corners of the country and to people from all walks of life. Images of elderly and middle-aged conservative female customers shopping for Star Wars merchandise flooded social media. Several proud shoppers posted images of the merchandise they had acquired. One customer, who went into a BIM store after they had run out of merchandise, brought home the Star Wars display shelf instead. Images of fans dressed in Star Wars costumes shopping at BIM stores were also widely shared.
Zaytung, a satirical site known as the Turkish Onion, tweeted, “Episode 8 will be shot at BIM outlets since they have sufficient 'Star Wars' materials.” An entry on Eksi Sozluk, a public information-sharing website — “Dec. 18, 2015, BIM’s 'Star Wars' Event” — received over 66 pages of commentary. Customers in urban and middle-class neighborhoods complained that they went to different BIM stores and all the Star Wars merchandise was sold out. Several fans confessed they had asked their moms’ and girlfriends’ help to shop at BIM. Quite a few also reported that they had waited in line for the store to open. This scale of popular commercial interest is a rather new concept for Turkey.
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