Lisa Frank: The Rainbow Prison

welcome back to the Papa me channel how you doing how you doing come on and sit on down because today we're talking about Lisa Frank which for anyone who doesn't remember Lisa franker that little name Lisa Frank was more than just a brand it was a cultural phenomenon that captured the imaginations of millions of Youth in America would you might remember all the little cutesy folders pencil cases her art was filled with vibrant psychedelic colors that featured cute little animals like unicorns frolicking in the forest or Tigers splashing in puddles seals hiding in kelp and Aliens giving you the bird her art was on everything notebooks lunch boxes toys clothing posters stickers Trapper Keepers you name it Lisa Frank put a goddamn animal on it it was the defining style of the pre-teen girls everywhere during the ' 80s and '90s how you know I'm a 1960s man myself I'm up there in some years but I do remember from my first marriage uh buying my little girl some of the stuff and she loved it 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download the free upside app to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas thank you upside for sponsoring the video and back to the video but behind the sparkly surface lies a story much darker much more deceptive than what you might expect person that makes this kind of art So today we're diving deep into the world of Lisa Frank a name that once symbolized childhood joy and now carries await of [Music] controversy that's sick God look at that seal dude why are we still here and she is a beautiful looking woman though huh yeah little peppercinis forever it which to be fair I really expected the artist to be more of like a a Tumblr girl or something I don't know yeah I can see Lisa Frank B on Tumblr look at my arm oh God God that's fabulous Lisa Frank is a very very private person even doing some of the research here but a lot of this info is coming from a jbel article is Jezebel is that is that like jyms Lisa Frank was born on April 21st 1955 in Michigan to a wealthy family her dad was in the automotive industry and his company was the only one producing engine bearings for US tanks in World War to that's just kind of a fun thought and from an early age her parents encouraged her in her Artistic Endeavors so she pursued a degree in art my dad's Rich did you know he did the US tank you know your dad killed millions of people right all around me are familiar faces and also her parents said that she colored in the lines that's a quote that's the heart eting journalism we have here on the papa Channel Lisa studied art at the University of Arizona in the 70s and during this time she started her own business where she would buy and resell handmade pottery and jewelry from local Native American communities she was basically a drop shipper she's stop shipping indigenous Pottery her business became so profitable that she started to commission the artist for her own original designs this is a quote if I said make a teddy bear or a unicorn that was what sold by the time she was 20 she created a line of plastic jewelry called sticky called stinky fingers no she didn't sticky sorry you it says here it says stinky fingers you [ __ ] she created a line of jewelry called Sticky Fingers and over time she slowly gained commercial rights to characters like Betty Boo Felix the Cat and Popeye she started getting into the cartoon business then in 1979 at the age of 24 she renamed her company to Lisa Frank Incorporated and within a year she received her first million dooll order from Spencer's Gifts I don't know the history of Spencer's Gifts but let me tell you when I was younger it was McFarland toys dildo's bongs and titty posters and Invader Zim merch and to think in the very back there's like a Betty Boop like plastic necklace and Lisa Frank Incorporated on the back the company initially focused on producing stickers that quickly gained popularity among children these stickers were unlike anything else on the market at the time they featured a vibrant mix of colors and Whimsical designs often depicting anthropomorphized animals in surreal settings I like how they like to imagine back then too someone's like holy [ __ ] I've never seen anything like this before ever I have to buy this now her art used airbrushing techniques that often took 9 to 36 hours to complete God damn Lisa how much time do you think these kids have on their hands all right so this one's 9 hours this one this one's going to take you 3 years you like that he's a little chimp Trav a chimp comes from going to the zoo or art museums reading magazines from everywhere and the sticker designed often took on average three months to be approved so each sticker that was revolutionary at the time took three whole months just to approve to get up on shelves she's very anal how did that word come to be for your you know I'm anal oh my God as her popularity grew Frank realized that there was potential to expand her brand Beyond just stickers she began producing a wide range of school supplies including folders notebooks and backpacks all adorned with her signature colorful designs by the mid 80s Lisa Frank's product had become a staple in the American school system my God children eagerly collected and traded her stickers and her school supplies were seen as must have items God help you if you were a girl in the mid 80s to early '90s and you didn't have some of these folders dude people would point and laugh if you were one of the poor kids that had to get the regular one color folder don't show up to school dude J Sports backpacks are cool now I remember I used to see kids get bullied for having that [ __ ] you need to have a billabong backpack of fox backpack or like a teenage be ninja sht backpack or you better get get the out of the way the success of Lisa Frank and corporate was not just due to the products themselves but also the way that they were marketed Lisa understood the power of branding and work tireless to create a world that her young audience could immerse themselves in I thought it was just cuz it's cute it's big it's bright it's colorful it's like this design that's kind of like it fires all these neurons in your head you know what I mean I don't think I've ever met one person who's just like what is what is the backstory of this [Applause] seal oh my god oh Jesus [Music] Christ we got we got another one we got another one there over 400 characters yeah but they're all animals but they're reused and they have names and lore oh they all have names lore I didn't know that she did this by introducing original characters such as Panda painter zomer and zorbit and the dancing dolphins to help build familiar faces kids could attach to I thought they were just all animals I don't think I've ever heard anyone say zomer and zorbit she even put her own personality into her characters Priscilla who was a wealthy fluffy white kitten oh she's like that's me I'm the head [ __ ] in charge here though she apparently hated cats then why'd you do it Lisa cuz they're cute if you hate cats though you probably don't think they're cute right she was just a marketing genius she realized people like cats people that don't like cats they do some bad [ __ ] to them in addition to the products themselves the marketing of the Lisa Frank product was incredibly effective the Brand's advertisements were everywhere on televisions and magazines and even in fast food restaurants through Partnerships with companies like McDonald's which I do remember that it made me kind of sad going to McDonald's when as a kid cuz it made me think I was going back to school School dude I want to escape this [ __ ] don't bring school to me wherever I go it's cute absorbit Lisa Frank products were marketed as something special something that allowed children to express their creativity and individuality by coloring an image I get to choose the color but I going to choose the colors me me and for minute children owning a Lisa Frank item was a status symbol a way to stand out in a sea of ordinary school supplies it's like getting a Mercedes Benz baby it's the same reason why people buy like G wagons if that's even a thing anymore like Teslas and all that [ __ ] no one gives a about the environment they just want that high class status dude they want to be a top dog they paid $10 for a pack of pencils that had the art on it a $10 pack of pencils that you're also going to like you destroy you know what I mean you have to sharpen your pencil to it removes all the art off it and you're like no absorb it Where'd you go which is funny because the parallels history does repeat itself little girls are just like the meanest people I mean creatures animals to ever exist dude little girls are like ruthless heartless guys you know like from what I remember like guys they'll be dicks or whatever I feel like guys make amends pretty easily little girls are mean like oh my God ew do you where's your Lisa FR like do you not have this they just tear at you oh my god did your did your dad lose his job is that's why you couldn't get it what is wrong with you I just think she's gross so that's where Lisa Frank get you all right but that's the parallel to how the stainle cup thing happened I bet kids are like that with the Stanley Cups now by the '90s the company was grossing over $60 million a year sales and had over 500 employees but behind the scenes all was not as it seemed again the company had this Aura and image of sunshine and rainbows but inside the facilities employees complained about harsh working conditions and toxic workplace environments former employees related to an Abus of alcoholic home and described a workplace ruled by fear where even the smallest mistake could lead to severe consequences God damn dude Lisa Frank's just like for every person who doesn't draws all bit the right way it's four fingers broken yes ma'am yeah yes master begin and all this madness apparently stemmed from when Lisa Frank's husband James Green took over a CEO in 1995 and that's when all hell started just absolutely break loose at the height of the company Lisa Frank wanted to step away from the management and focus on just the design aspect of the product she's just like I've been making in all this money falling dude look at look at this Empire I built but I just want to focus on theing Art James can you handle this stuff yeah I got this is easy peasy baby you go f hey go draw go draw zorbit all day by this time her company has probably been grossed hundreds of millions of dollars she was also very paranoid of being in the public eye and had just given birth to her first child I bet Lisa is kind of a a rug cutter maybe she wants to go out and dance or do someing blow she has to settle down now cuz she has a kid it's like you can't be the CEO of Lisa Frank Incorporated selling pudding pops and pandas to children I bet you she was doing some like eyes wide shut [ __ ] you know what I'm saying high class Society stuff she's getting hering nipples pinched and she's like slapping people in the face and everything where am I what am I doing she named her first two kids after characters in her illustrations which was Hunter and Forest which I think is a good name i' Forest I'm like I don't really know but hunter I think is very solid So Lisa good on you I'll I'll be it somewhat narcissistic he you know what why not if you've garnered millions and millions and millions of dollars I'd be like yeah Hunter Forest dude this is what made Mommy you never see mommy darest oh dude have you heard of that scene no more wire hangers cuz I bet you that's what Lisa Frank was doing to her kids dude so Lisa gave that role to her husband which turned out to be the biggest mistake she would ever make in her entire life she would work from home and she would only come in to the office once a month just to check on things once a month and for the next 10 years James pulled all the strings who allegedly was prone to fits of rage and was described as an abusive arrogant and extremely difficult to work with kind of person 10 a decade all right like Alis is just like all right he's your boss we'll see you no no no shuts those doors this made the company become notorious as Tucson Arizona's shittiest employer as soon dawned the name of Technicolor goog that's fing awesome Lisa Franks company ends up being called the technol goog according to former employees these were some of the things that were to be expected when working inside of Lisa Frank Incorporated employ were not able to speak to each other and that there was to be complete silence in the workplace not even you gave murmur there was a bimonthly publication called Frankly Speaking which told employees how to behave particularly how to behave around CEO James Green I think James has some insecurity problems is what I think visitors were prohibited to enter the facility including family members top secrets going on we're going to be drawing lines today and we cannot have anybody know our Line Design it's like isn't that the same line we've been drawing since 1983 hey he back to work no one speak God damn it female employees were unable to wear heels because quote they wouldn't be able to walk as fast as him why do I feel like they made madman based around James Green I want to Scotch at 9:30 and no one wear heels because you can't keep up with Papa am all right in reality he was really short and insecure about his height so if you were taller than him he wouldn't feel insecure I wonder how tall Lisa Frank was she looks tall in that picture she looked really tall maybe like that though I'm going to climb you like a tree she's like do whatever you want Paul bunion here you're Jack of the bean stock get on up here Jack there's a giant to slay and there was unfair wages and some people even reported only receiving minimum wage for the entire duration of their employment no matter the role qualified roles you're getting paid 725 probably even less back then you're getting paid four something the minimum wage in 1995 do you want the job or not it's either rest from McDonald's and if you violated any of these rules you'd be verbally abused which included name calling James would scream in your face You' threaten to be fired or some bizarre punishment James come up with that day one time an employee left 10 minutes early so James instructed the warehouse manager to put chains and padlocks on all the doors so that the staff couldn't escape they're making tiger pictures and seals and water for children for folders hey I'm just going to head out early my daughter's got a baseball game yeah man no problem hello lock the doors we have 10 minutes to leave goodbye there was also an extremely high turnover rate within the company's art Department often chewing up and spinning out new hires at unusually high rates which let me tell you as what happens in the studio system anyways a former employee said that in the four years he was employed in the 40 person creative Department the group may have changed over at least two or three times one year almost a third of the entire staff was fired so not even people quitting but people also just getting laid off another employees said that over 80 people left or were fired between February of 2003 and December of 2004 well most of the turnover rate was due to random firings due to James's temper many of people quit just because they couldn't handle the oppressive atmosphere in which James created and when you did leave the company allegedly failed to give Severance packages fought unemployment benefits and numerous former employees had to sue for their final paycheck James is such a petty little piece of [ __ ] God he I hate him several employees witnessed James repeatedly throwing chairs and objects at employees for messing up that's the Whiplash method not my Tempo [ __ ] throws the deal at him he throws a live seal at him he would never take an employee off to the side and instead would scream curse and belittle them in front of everyone CU he has a little man syndrome he's a little guy I bet he had a huge truck if you crossed him or if just didn't like you he made sure that person's life was miserable from his constant abuse and harassment James also never learned any of the employees names and would just give people nicknames hey uh fat ankles come over here my name's Tyler I've worked here for 9 years you know that you went to my you know you've been to my wedding yeah cankles uh going to need a new giraffe logo by the end of the day if you can tell Tootsie and fat McGee to do that that'd be great thank you he'd probably give you orders for other people's nicknames so you probably had to learn all of the people's up nicknames so you could actually communicate with each other tell beak noos and giraffe neck to get in here hey Stacy and John he wants to see you one employee said he would refer to one of his employees as that guy due to her not being that attractive you know James is the kind of guy to be like hey that guy you see that new movie American P it's [ __ ] funny oh it's real funny John was not alone he also had his partner in crime Rondo rowlet Rondo the wer and they contributed to the abuse and neglect within the company Ronda was the company's vice president and was John's enforcer they were also extremely into Coke they were visiting the Snowman every day and Ronda would allegedly send an employee to a gas station in order to pick up brown paper bags and they were instructed not to look inside so Ronda the Rottweiler even sent people out to pick up her Coke whatever you do do not look in that bag and then John's like you know he's likeing 3ot tall he's like yeah don't look at the don't look in the bag as a turn of events they became lovers in September of 2005 Lisa divorced James you know James probably said some petty [ __ ] too she was better than you she you know what she Dre she draws highas and [ __ ] goats way better than you Lisa you dog James and Ronda lashed out against the company often pitting employees against each other and they made people pick sides you're either with James or you're with Lisa so even after the divorced he still got to work at the company dude brutal come on Lisa fing get him out of there James wanted to start his own company and take everyone who sided with him to go run this new company are you with Lisa the girl who can barely draw fuing toes are you with me the guy who uh what what do you want that guy what do you want in response to the divorce Lisa wiretapped the company's phones and collected all the employees emails to sabotage James apparently she found out James had wiretapped the phones years ago and she also issued a restraining order against James so that he would stop quote harassing employees and blocking purchasing orders it's a coloring book company eventually James resigned and Lisa became CEO once more they then sued each other for the next 8 years over both company and personal assets James wanted to control of the company and to force her to dissolve Lisa Frank Incorporated he wanted the company basically and for Lisa just to like lose everything he also tried to claim that he created all 400 of the original characters [ __ ] off dude James tried to sue Lisa for $12 million so he could pay off alone for a private jet he bought I feel like everything that I'm saying in between each thing I'm just like that's James in a nutshell that whole thing I hope you en hope you enjoyed that little bit her ex-employees did not have nice things to say about Lisa well you probably think the entire time oh Lisa poor Lisa well this is what some of the uh some of the ex-employees said about Lisa as well she's getting older now she kept getting I don't know if it was classic surgery but she kept getting these lotions talking about youth have you met her she's like 2 lb God damn but that's so petty and mean former employees commented and said that her husband wasn't the only reason for the company's downfall and that she played a hand in it as well another quote the current state of affairs is unsurprising to them and it was both a long time coming thanks to Chronic mismanagement from both Frank and green I wonder how much that's true though the wrongdoing was that she gave control to a guy who also probably didn't know what the he was doing either she was also afraid of James at home she was afraid of James at home for his abusive outburn abusive Outburst well no wonder she got aing restraining order against him that's a pretty big piece of information to know good God one of the most frequent complaints from employees was about Lisa Frank's management style Frank was known for her perfectionism round out his face a little bit so he looks a little cuter and while this has been a key factor in the success of her brand it also led to an environment of fear and anxiety to me I I think it's just her turning a blind eye to all of the mismanagement styles of her husband who she probably was afraid of too so probably this correlation of like her feeling like she didn't want to say anything to him cuz she didn't want to have to deal with it at home employees reported that Frank was extremely Hands-On often micromanaging every aspect of the business this led to an atmosphere where employees felt constantly scrutinized and pressured to meet her high standards this is another person I personally heard Frank scream at sales managers and threaten their lives if they up a presentation every day was so stressful and hearing Lisa's voice downstairs on a speaker phone made my blood run cold I had many instances where she abused me verbally you hear about Steve Jobs Steve Jobs B Litt the [ __ ] out of people screamed at him but guess what now we have an iPhone so maybe take your little snowflake attitude and get the out of here if you don't want to draw monkeys and seals then get the out of here Lisa has admitted that she wasn't a great employer and has apologized for the way she treated her employees within her company Lisa Frank Incorporated has also notorious for copyright abuse and they would go after artists who drew anything rainbow colored or cute which is where to me as an artist whatever that's where I draw the line where I'm like dude you don't own animals and rainbow patterings all right the company is no longer the giant it was in Heyday but the 2010s the brand experienced a resear of sorts fueled by a wave of '90s nostalgia in 2012 Lisa worked with Urban Outfitters to try to resuscitate the company by launching new merch as well as selling some of their vintage stuff in the 1980s and 90s this revival didn't boost the company to the former glory and in 2016 it was reported that they reduced their company from 500 employees to just six and that they only make $2.6 million in annual revenue Lisa Frank headquarters which is 320,000 ft building in Tucson Arizona is now rund down shell of its former herself and apparently the six remaining staff members worked inside of here oh there's people there was also some controversies that Lisa was rebranding her characters with sex appeal it wasn't until 2021 when Lisa's 21-year-old son forest green took over as Director of Business Development his First Act of business was taking over the company's Instagram account during the pandemic they quickly gained 700,000 followers and have since partnered with Brands like morph hillsbury and Crocs but that's where we're at I have to thank my wife for telling me about this I had no idea this is aing insane story I'm surprised this hasn't been maidens like a movie yet I mean James Green I don't know what kind of rock he crawled under but God damn you think he's just like power tripping regular like everyday stuff like he's the guy who's in the grocery store being like well could you go to the back and check I bet you he's still getting his power trip somehow he actually has his own company now and he has similar art oh so he's just doing a Lisa Frank knockoff whatever I wonder how forest green feels about that Daddy you draw seals really well it's like horrible he's like thank you Son thank you but that's all I have to talk about today the Lisa Frank saga continues maybe dig up some of those folders and uh go down memory lane knowing that somebody probably was emotionally manipulated and probably verbally assaulted making it uh until next time everybody I'll see you then welcome to Lisa Frank's bedazzled death bed where you can leave the world just as happy as you entered it who wants to be remembered as a pile of sad lifeless gray dust not me that's why at Lisa Frank's bedazzled Death Beds you can add some jazz to your ashes