Cast your mind back to your favourite birthday present of all time. Was it a stylish new outfit? A whizz-bang gadget? Maybe it was way back when you were a kid, and you finally got that toy you’d been begging Mum and Dad for?
Whatever it was, we’re betting it probably wasn’t a five-metre bobblehead.
No, that would be the 40th birthday present for Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, a discount store chain based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Measuring 16 feet 6.73 inches tall, and weighing in at more than 600 pounds (272 kilograms), the bobblehead of the chain’s mascot Ollie was the ideal way to celebrate the milestone anniversary, said John Swygert, President and CEO of Ollie’s.
“For 40 years, we’ve been committed to offering huge deals on brand name merchandise, so we wanted to create something big to help honour our anniversary, and what better than a 16-foot bobblehead?” he said.
Of course, to meet the exacting standards of Guinness World Records, Ollie’s couldn’t just slap together any old giant bobblehead and call it a day. No, it needed to be a replica of a bobblehead that already existed – in this case, a regular-sized one that Ollie’s sold as a promotional model – and, of course, it needed to actually bobble (otherwise it would just be a statue).
After four gruelling months, the bobblehead was completed – and now that Guinness has verified it smashed the previous record set in 2016, the giant Ollie will take up residence outside the chain’s flagship Harrisburg store.
“We’ve been anticipating this moment all year. To see this giant bobblehead come to life before our eyes, and to have Guinness World Records at Ollie’s in Harrisburg to officially announce that we broke the world record, is absolutely thrilling,” said John.
It certainly puts our socks and jocks from last year’s birthdays to shame.
