Bobble
Heads !

A Cicadas Bobblehead

Now there's CicadaMan, a smiling, sneaker-wearing bug that has joined the likes of The Ol' Left-Hander and the president in Associated Premium Corporation's lineup of bobblehead dolls. 

And why not, asks Associated Premium sales rep Jerry Ficke. The cicadas will be around for only a few weeks. Then they'll be underground for another 17 years. 

Besides, unlike most cicadas, CicadaMan is "the ultimate souvenir," he said. 

Sure, some people are selling hats, mugs and T-shirts to mark the occasion. That's all routine, Ficke said. Cicada bobbleheads are different. They're truly creative, said Ficke. 

"They're pretty cute -- and they won't land on you and get in your hair," he said. 

Smiling, with wings shaped like a cape, and with a "C" on his chest, CicadaMan naturally prunes the world's trees once every 17 years. 

Ficke is offering the bobble-bugs for about $19.95, plus $6.95 shipping and handling  from Associated Premium's Web site: www.associatedpremium.com. 

Marketing directly to consumers is unusual for the Roselawn-based Associated Premiums. 

The company was founded in 1982 to serve banks and savings & loans. 

Associated Premiums provided the "incentive merchandise" -- toasters and radios and the like -- that banks gave away for opening new accounts. By 1984, the company had moved into sports marketing. 

Today, the company with offshore manufacturing facilities provides everything from fleece shirts to stainless steel mugs. It markets itself as "The promotional ideas company." 

"We pretty much come up with the idea, source it and deliver it," Ficke said. 

To help its customers, Associated Premiums keeps track of weird trivia -- such as that May 23 is World Turtle Day, June is National Accordion Awareness Month and October is National Pork Month, National Vegetarian Month, National Seafood Month, National Chili Month, National Cookie Month and National Dental Hygiene Month. 

When people started talking about the cicada, the bobblehead just seemed like a natural idea to pursue, Ficke said. 

"In a game like this, it's kind of a quick-hit thing," he said. "If you get there first, you win." 

On Friday, cicadas had emerged at 53 percent of the sites in western Cincinnati and Delhi Township that cicada expert Gene Kritsky of the College of Mount St. Joseph maintains. 

He had also received hundreds of cicada reports via e-mail, and said he heard isolated cicada calls for the first time Thursday in Spring Grove Cemetery. 

"The fact that they were calling shows that the numbers are reaching the point where males are getting out of the way of the predators," he said. 

It will take a few more days for all the cicadas to emerge, he said. Cooler weather forecast for today might slow them down a bit, he said.

From: www.cincypost.com (with corrections)