New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony will be taking his enthusiasm for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Nickelodeon to head a Turtles by Melo merchandise line.
A deal between Nickelodeon, which owns the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles television show, and the Knicks forward was announced on Tuesday at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.
Melo, a known fan of the Turtles who will also be appearing in the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 movie, will apparently serve as the creative director of the Turtles by Melo line of merchandise. The line will sell a whole range of products:
The New York Knicks star and self-professed Turtles super-fan will serve as creative director of Turtles by Melo, a consumer products line inspired by the Nickelodeon franchise. It is expected to span lifestyle products, home furnishings, publishing, video games and more.
While the marriage of “television show about radioactive turtles who learn martial arts from a rat” and “Carmelo Anthony, creative director of a product line” may seem odd, Nickelodeon’s chief market officer and president of consumer products, Pam Kaufman, thinks that Carmelo will work wonders for the Turtles:
“Carmelo is ideal for this new consumer products line because he is genuinely a super-fan, and of course he’s an iconic celebrity with global appeal,” says Kaufman. “He speaks with authenticity and love for the Turtles, and his presence will get the accompanying products into different aisles at retail.”
If nothing else, the experience can’t be worse than the one that Carmelo has endured with the Knicks recently.
