But it's true that the original Star Wars movies had probably just as much junk marketed for them. Bedsheets, party napkins, candy dispensers, etc. everywhere you looked. Everything had a Star Wars logo slapped on it.
The big difference I think is this: Star Wars didn't have all that stuff when it first came out. The product was marketed to meet the demand, not anticipate it (at least not with the first film). Remember, there weren't even any Star Wars action figures for almost a YEAR after the film came out. The public wanted Star Wars *anything*, and the market responded. People couldn't get enough.
When TPM came out, most of the merchandising was already lined up, pre-anticipated to sell billions of units. I remember how that felt. The market was flooded, and it just seemed wrong to have them pushing me to buy all this stuff rather than me pushing them to sell me more. There was far more junk (Habro toys especially) than I could ever hope to (or even want to) collect, and it burned me out very quickly. Disappointment in the movie didn't help, either.
If LFL had marketed conservatively at first, and then ramped it up based on demand, I think they would have done far better in the end and earned far more respect. I think they tried to tone it down by the time AOTC and ROTS came out, but it was too little too late by then for many fans.
--SKot