Where the Wild Things Are was an instant success following its publication in 1963. Only a few years later was Sendak first hired to produce artwork for a commercial advertising campaign. The present Wild Thing represents the earliest use of Wild Things for corporate advertising. Similar "Credit Crunch" Wild Things exist, but all vary from any of the creatures featured in Where the Wild Things Are, suggesting that Sendak did not want to employ his beloved characters so readily, and that the subject of "Wild Things" still held ample creative possibilities for Sendak.

Sendak was meticulous in his craft and annotates the exact times that he worked on this image, recording in the upper right-hand margin the day-long process behind this particular image and documenting his fastidious creative process.

“3:45 | traced onto page. 5:15 | at least 20 minutes lost | in phone calls | + [?]. | begin ?inking + ?stippled | at 6:00 | start again 8:30 | 9:10 stop | 9:20 start | 9:25 stop | 9:35 start | finish 12:00”