While many fans are familiar with the expansive advertising campaign directed at the public during the first months of Star Wars' release in 1977, a lesser known marketing effort was also being aimed at the Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S. and Mexico.
Any collector can tell you that Spanish-language materials abound in the Star Wars universe -- books, toys, gum cards, costumes, and more -- but for the most part, these were produced in Spain, Mexico, and South America. A handful, however, were actually produced in the United States for domestic Spanish-speaking communities and for limited export to Mexico.
As Star Wars began playing to Spanish-speaking communities in the Los Angeles area around mid-July 1977, a series of promotional items including posters, press kits, newspaper ads, pinback buttons, and radio commercials were created by the domestic offices of 20th Century Fox to target those audiences. The series of eight radio ads, which are basically Spanish renditions of the earliest English-language campaigns, can be downloaded below.
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Star Wars Spanish Radio Spots | Download
As might be expected, the U.S. Spanish-language campaign closely followed the English model, with a similar teaser poster printed in Los Angeles which replaced "May the Force be with you" with "Que la Fuerza te acompane" and the La Guerra de las Galaxias title. Similarly, this phrase was used again on the first U.S. artwork poster printed in the Spanish language -- a poster that actually has an interesting place in the history of the overall domestic campaign.
Originally, the artwork seen on the Star Wars Spanish one-sheet, executed by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, was slated to be used on the English version as well -- at least, this appears to be the case according to early press materials depicting mock-up images of the English one-sheet using the Hildebrandt artwork. Instead, however, the English posters opted to go with an earlier version of this design created by Tom Jung, which seemed to hit the actors' likenesses more accurately. Because the Hildebrandt artwork was used so extensively throughout the early campaign -- it was seen on t-shirts, in newspapers, and on a top-selling pin-up poster -- it left a lasting impression in the public mind. Consequently, collectors seek out this one-sheet as the only official U.S. theatrical poster to utilize this celebrated artwork.
There was also a Spanish-language one-sheet which utilized Tom Chantrell's classic "Style C" artwork, and a more recent discovery suggests that Tom Jung's original "Style A" art may have also been used, or at least printed as a sample for consideration by 20th Century Fox.
Like the U.S. campaign, which allotted scores of pinback buttons sporting the "May the Force be with you" slogan to theaters opening the movie across the country, a nearly identical example in Spanish was also produced, although in far lesser quantities. Likewise, a press kit with the cover and contents printed in Spanish as well as a set of newspaper ad slicks, or clip art, were produced, all promoting the film to Spanish-speaking fans.
Because these materials appear to turn up far less frequently than their English counterparts, they are rarely known by collectors, with little documentation to be found in price guides or on websites. Similar campaigns were also waged for the other films in the saga, again with very little ending up in collectors' hands.
The U.S Spanish-language campaigns were an integral part of the first film's overall marketing effort, and are a testament to the wide appeal garnered by the Star Wars saga among the diverse cultures of the United States.
