commercials across Europe Simona de Iulio, Zouha Dahmen-Jarrin

To cite this version:

Simona de Iulio, Zouha Dahmen-Jarrin. Toy commercials across Europe. Young Consumers, Emerald, 2004, 5 (4), pp.39-45. ￿10.1108/17473610410814319￿. ￿halshs-02013485￿

HAL Id: halshs-02013485 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02013485 Submitted on 11 Feb 2019

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. TOY Toy commercials across Europe

In this study Simona De Iulio, University of Strasbourg and Zouha Jarrin, University of Grenoble, reveal some interesting findings about globalisation, and child culture by comparing toy commercials from France, Germany and Italy.

RITICAL ANALYSES OF globalisation and traditions rooted in national child cultures. have often denounced the spread of a Businesses are recommended to divide the Cworld-wide child culture founded on a younger public according to age and sex standardised array of practices and values pro- (Roedder John 1999): that is, according to moted by large multinational companies. In this demographic data, not according to socio-cul- interpretation, young people everywhere have tural criteria as well. As Inès de la Ville observes been transformed into ‘world-consumers’ (2004), studies on young consumers concur in induced to demand the same goods, play with representing children as dominated by innate the same toys, and feed their imaginations with and immutable instincts, rather than focusing on the same themes and symbols.To quote No Logo the fact that they grow in a specific social and by the Canadian journalist Naomi Klein: ‘The cultural context. branded multinationals may talk diversity, but If businesses do not take account of either the the visible result of their actions is an army of variety of factors that regulate consumption teen clones marching – in “uniform”, as the practices or the socio-cultural specificities of marketers say – into the global mall. Despite the countries, they focus on universal attributes of embrace of poly-ethnic imagery, market-driven children: they appeal to common denominators globalisation doesn’t want diversity; quite the in order to act on ‘primary’ needs and desires. opposite. Its enemies are national habits, local From this point of view, standardising advertis- brands and distinctive regional tastes.’ (Klein ing strategies and messages are the best way to 2000) It could be said that advertisements for address younger international target groups. international brands and products targeted at James U. McNeal, for example, advises: ‘In gen- children and adolescents are the most eloquent eral, it appears that before there is a geographic expression of commercial universalism. In the age of globalisation, it is alleged, not only does Studies on young advertising flatten children’s culture into the worship of commodities and extravagance but it consumers concur in is one of the principal causes of the erosion of representing children as national and local traditions. dominated by innate and immutable instincts, rather Advertising strategies than focusing on the fact The arguments put forward by certain market- ing experts help consolidate the image of they grow in a specific advertising as a steamroller that crushes customs social and cultural context

© World Advertising Research Center 2004 Child & Youth Insight July–September 2004 11 TOY MARKETING

culture there is a children’s culture; that children The fusion of film, are very much alike around the industrialised world.They love to play, first and foremost, they animated sequences and love to snack, mainly on sweets, and they love digital images, as well as being children with other children (in contrast to assuming most adult roles). The result is that the use of visual devices they very much want the same things, that gen- and sound effects, helped erally translate their needs into similar wants transform the toy into a that tend to transcend culture. Therefore, it appears that fairly standardised multinational key which provided entry marketing strategies to children around the into a dream-world. globe are viable.’ (McNeal 1992) However, careful analysis of international marketing strategies reveals that advertising is advertising directed at children of different unable to stand as the new Esperanto. Indeed, nationalities and examined the role of advertis- although the advertising industry appears to ing aimed at children in the globalisation of child be dominated by the principles of globalisation culture. Attention focused in particular on the – expansion, financial concentration, apparent tendency towards universalism in the economies of scale, and standardisation – the form and content of television commercials tar- endeavour to accomplish a single and univer- geted at children, and the changes made to the sal message has failed. Since the 1980s, commercials so that their messages appeal to international marketing practices have shifted young French, Italian and German television towards strategies which exclude the extreme viewers. options of total standardisation and total The discussion in this article is based on com- diversification. The main aim today is to strike parative analysis of a sample of 163 television a balance between the coherence of the inter- commercials broadcast during the week from 17 national image of a product or brand and its –23 November 2003 on TF1 (France), Italia declension according to specific national set- Uno (Italy), Super RTL A (Germany) during tings (de Mooij, 1998). programmes explicitly intended for children and Although it promotes standardised products, aired between the hours of seven to eight-thirty international advertising aimed at children and am.The sample examined consisted solely of toy adolescents appears to result from a trade-off commercials. The choice of toy commercials between economic pressures towards standardi- was dictated by contingent reasons (in sation and the specific socio-cultural features of November the majority of commercials broad- each national market, which instead impose cast during children’s programmes are for toys) adaptation and diversification. and theoretical ones given that toys are ‘the key instruments of child culture’ (Kline 1993). The aims and methods of the The comparative method, and the descriptive research and socio-semiotic approach used, enabled us to study the strategies, forms and contents of The aim of our research was to highlight the advertising discourses directed at children, with- relationship between advertising and children out neglecting the context in which those within the context of globalisation. We investi- discourses were transmitted. The commercials gated the roles performed by different territories were examined on the basis of a grid designed to – international, national, regional and local – in determine the extent to which advertising aimed

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at children uses standardised solutions and the seemed at times to be racing on the toy extent to which it instead adapts to national or Turbo Jet City track and then in the virtual space local children’s cultures. of a video game. In other cases, the realism of We isolated in the sample 19 commercials the representation was altered by the use of spe- which promoted the same toys in two or all three cial effects to emphasise certain of the toy’s countries. Given that these commercials were properties. particularly significant for our purposes, they The fusion of film, animated sequences and were subjected to more detailed analysis: after digital images, as well as the use of visual devices being transcribed in their entirety, they were and sound effects, helped transform the toy into compared using the interpretative grid. a key which provided entry into a dream-world. Toy advertising aims to reproduce the mecha- Homogeneity of strategies and nisms of children’s typical play.The commercials contents depicted toys as instruments able to activate the imagination, the toys could give access to Analysis of the sample revealed a set of constant extraordinary (imaginary) experiences. The set- features in the strategies employed in advertising ting in which the game was played (often a toys to young French, Italian and German tele- child’s bedroom) was anonymous, and the child’s vision viewers. The commercials examined presence was marginal. The child playing with made simultaneous use of various modes of per- the toy was often relegated to second place, suasion. On the one hand, they adopted the shrunk by a wide-angle shot which instead mag- register of informative-rational argument by nified the size of the toy. Some commercials describing the product’s features and perform- showed only the hands and fingers of a child ance. On the other, they exploited the register of manipulating the product; and in some cases the seduction and emotion by appealing to the child-player disappeared altogether, with the toy imagination. This overlapping of different per- seemingly moving on its own. suasive registers was accompanied by a mix of The toys often came to life in the commercials different advertising genres. The descriptive as the protagonists of stories. As Stephen Kline presentation (a voice-over describing the prop- notes, advertising strategies increasingly rely on erties of the toy – often the sole protagonist of characterisation and personification (Kline the video track – and how it worked) was asso- 1993). In other words, it is not simply plastic ciated with spectacular animations, a fantastical or teddy bears that appear on the screen, atmosphere, and the surprise of special effects. but individuals with names, personalities and The boundary between reality and fiction was social roles. Advertising attributes meaning to therefore very fine. Images of different kinds toys by associating them with a set of rules and (film, animation or synthesis) alternated or rituals, every toy is related to a desired array of merged in the same shot, so that flesh-and-blood experiences and emotions. The commercial children, toys and cartoon characters all enacts a manner of playing and having fun, thus appeared on the screen, moving in a domain seeking to seduce children into believing that the where the real and imaginary worlds intermin- toy will give them access to a special world and gled. In the French and German commercials to a specific experience. for My Scene , for example, animated The world associated with the toy is inspired characters, dolls and small girls interacted in a by stereotypical situations which the advertisers setting where ‘real’ snow in the foreground com- believe figure in the dreams of boys (visiting farm bined with painted fir trees, mountains and hills animals in the Alle meine Schweinchen/ I Maialini in the background. Likewise, model Ballerini commercial) or of girls (taking care of a

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baby in Barbie Mix & Magic Küche/ Barbie Barbie or le centro commerciale di Polly, were out- Cucina Magiche Delizie) or of pre-adolescents (an right initiations into consumption), tenderness evening at the discotheque with the My Scene (attachment to cuddly animals like Winnie the dolls; a stroll through the shopping centre with Le Pooh, Hamtaro) and motherhood. In all three centre commercial /Il centro commerciale countries, the themes for boys were speed (car di Polly). In these examples, shots of the product races with spectacular accidents), adventure alternate with images representing emblematic (journeys in exotic lands) and strength (battle places: the farmyard, the dance floor of a dis- and combat). Also to be noted is that the male/ cotheque, the escalator in a shopping centre. female distinction also concerned the way in In other cases, the toy refers to a fantasy world which children play: girls were shown playing depicted in films, animated cartoons and televi- together; boys were always represented as com- sion series for children. This occurs when the toy peting adversaries. is derived from another media such as a television In all countries, moreover, toy advertising is programme or book and advertising of the toy is often accompanied by references to a widely part of a broader commercial strategy. In the shared extra-textual body of knowledge. The commercials analysed, characters such as Batman, commercials utilised motifs taken from European Transformers and Power Rangers, or objects like and North American literature (fairy tales and the Palais des Princesses, and The Tree of Winnie the adventure stories), from the cinema (action and Pooh, were taken from the fictitious world of ani- adventure films), and from Japanese animated mated films, books or strip cartoons and became cartoons (Manga). They sometimes drew on the real toys in the hands of a child. A connection culture of consumption by referring to commer- between the toy and other media sometimes cial practices aimed at adults, like telesales or appeared in the final frame, which promoted domestic sales (for example Barbie Cucina films, videos and (for example Bionicle, Magiche Delizie/ Barbie Mix & Magic Küche) or The Incredible Hulk, Barbie Lac des Cygnes). car commercials like Lil’ Mini Coupé.Toy The comparative analysis revealed recurrent commercials therefore tend to refer to a body of features not only in strategy, but also in content. knowledge connected with a mass culture shared The latter was distinguished by gender. For by children of different nationalities. girls, in all three countries, the recurrent themes concerned the world of fashion (trying on From standardisation to adaptation clothes, shoes and jewellery, purchasing and exchanging them, applying make-up, styling The international commercials analysed were hair), fairy tales (spells, magic objects, enchanted much more standardised than those for other castles), the pleasure of shopping (some com- categories of products. While the international mercials, like those for Il Registratore di Cassa di advertising of food products for children largely relies on ‘multi-domestic’ solutions or specific national campaigns (De Iulio 2004), all the For girls, in all three international toys in our sample took a ‘global’ countries, the recurrent approach, transfering the same commercial from one country to another. This transfer themes concerned the always required changes to be made to the video world of fashion, fairy tales, and sound tracks. The comparative analysis showed that the visual and auditory elements the pleasure of shopping, making up a commercial may be subjected to six tenderness and motherhood types of operation: repetition, addition, removal,

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shift, translation, replacement. Analysis of the 19 The toy was the same commercials, in fact, revealed that the standard- ised approach at the strategic level was (a cuddly dog) but the combined with tactics diversified for each of the meanings attached to it three countries. changed (competitiveness/ Comparison of the names given to brands and products yielded insight into the logic excellence in the German behind commercials aimed at children of differ- version, friendship/ ent nationalities. In the majority of cases, brand names were identical in all three countries (for tenderness in the example, the brand names LEGO, and Italian one). Hasbro remained the same, the only exception being GIG/Ban Dai). By contrast, the names of first prize. In the Italian version, the dog show products often underwent literal translation (for sequence was removed or cut: the video track example Barbie Registratore di Cassa/ showed the same little girl strolling in the park Registrierkasse, Barbie Lac des Cygnes/ Barbie with her Boby Bau, which walked and barked Lago dei Cigni/ Barbie Schwanensee), adaptation like a real dog. The toy was the same (a cuddly (Maialini Ballerini/ Alle meine Schweinchen, dog) but the meanings attached to it changed names alluding to the titles of two children’s (competitiveness/excellence in the German ver- songs well-known in Italy – ‘Il Pulcino Ballerino’ sion, friendship/tenderness in the Italian – and in Germany – ‘Alle meine Entchen’), or version). Also the form of play was different (a substitution (Boby Bau & Friends/ FurReal & dog competition in the German version/ a walk Friends). This name differentiation relates to a in the park in the Italian one). broader strategy of ‘territorial mimicry’ intended Another example of video track adaptation to tie the brand, and in particular the product, to was provided by toy commercials involving sev- the national context. eral characters or objects (though these are sold separately) stage-managed to create a micro- Video changes story. The comparative analysis showed that In general, images can traverse national bound- certain sequences were removed, replaced aries which are instead barriers to language. and/or added according to the country, the pur- Consequently, the adaptation of video tracks in pose being to highlight one or another the commercials gave rise to minimal, some- component. For example, the German commer- times imperceptible, discordances. The product cial for Barbie Happy Family was centred on the packaging might be replaced, and details of the family car, while the Italian one focused on the setting altered. The removal or addition of Barbie Pediatra . frames in the sequence changed – sometimes Finally, comparison among video tracks superficially, sometimes substantially – the pres- showed that the marketing initiatives associated entation of the toy and the general meaning of with the toys advertised – games and competi- the commercial. This was the case, for example, tions especially – were unique to each ad. of the cuddly dogs FurReal & Friends/ Boby Bau Consequently, all the shots relative to these ini- & Friends, where the original iconic material tiatives concerned one country alone. was changed to construct two different micro- It is evident that altering the video track helps narratives. In the German version, the FurReal blend the product and the message associated toy dog was entered for a dog show by a little with it into the viewer’s context, taking account girl, and thanks to its beauty and obedience, won of the values, traditions and modes of play spe-

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cific to the national child culture. At the same The use of foreign words time, the iconic material is adapted in order to position the product with respect to the charac- in advertising messages teristics of the national market. generally fulfils the function Language of attracting attention, of However, the most evident changes concerned differentiating the message, the linguistic elements of the message. The and of assisting its voice-overs, dialogues and monologues were translated, adapted, rewritten and dubbed. The memorisation superimposed texts were written anew and sub- stituted. These variations performed two present the product in terms as familiar as pos- functions. First, they gave sense to the commer- sible. The voice-over guided the young viewers, cial without distorting it; second, they connected providing not only semantic coherence to the the message to the context in which it was trans- images but also but also fitting the product in mitted. This major effort of ‘faithful the context of their culture. re-invention’ highlights that ‘global’ advertising In other commercials, by contrast, the for- campaigns must necessarily take account of spe- eign elements were deliberately emphasised. In cific national features. this case, too, language played a key role. Some Some of the international commercials toys kept their English names: ‘FurReal & examined sought to reduce the gap between Friends’, ‘Hot Wheels Turbo Jet City’, ‘ the foreign elements in the message and the Hero City Ice Mountain’. Likewise, some slo- target culture. The aim was to attune the toy gans were not translated: for example, the and the message to young television viewers Hasbro brand’s ‘Make the World Smile’ or mainly by means of language. Dubbing helps LEGO’s ‘Play On’.The use of foreign words in conceal the foreign origin of a commercial.The advertising messages generally fulfils the func- children were unaware that a message which tion of attracting attention, of differentiating seemed specifically addressed to them, in their the message, and of assisting its memorisation language, was in fact a version of one used in (Ray, Ryder & Scott 1994). Nevertheless, the an international campaign. Moreover, the com- examples analysed showed that the English lan- mercials analysed never made reference to the guage is also used because of its evocative provenance of the product: the young televi- power, in that it connotes fashion, novelty and sion watcher, in fact, did not know where the dynamism. It is no coincidence that children’s product had been made, and the meanings slang, especially in Germany, is particularly associated with the toy were entirely unrelated rich with English words. Slogans in a foreign to its mode and place of manufacture. Images language therefore seem to constitute ‘linguis- devoid of any territorial reference were often tic stereotypes’ and assume value independent accompanied by a voice-over made easily of their meaning. Advertising tends to dese- recognisable as a particular nationality through manticise language, reducing it to pure sound: the use of children’s slang. In the French ver- what matters is the sonority of foreign expres- sion for the Bratz doll commercial, for sions. In other words, what seems to be example, the voice-over used expressions such important is that the young receiver should be as ‘trop top’, ‘super’, ‘carrément canon’ typical able to identify the foreign language as such, of the argot of French children. This solution without necessarily being able to comprehend was obviously the result of an endeavour to its meaning.

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de Dame Tartine. Regards européens sur la consomma- Conclusions tion enfantine. Paris: L’Harmattan. The comparative analysis highlighted the pres- de Mooij, M. (1998) Global marketing and advertising: understanding cultural paradoxes. : Sage. ence of a homogeneous set of strategies and Klein, N. (2000) No logo.Taking aim at the brand bul- contents which transcend French, Italian and lies. Toronto:Vintage Canada. German boundaries. Often inextricably bound Kline, S. (1993) Out of the Garden : toys,TV and chil- up with the commercial strategies used to mar- dren’s culture in the age of TV marketing. New York: ket an audiovisual product and its derivatives, Verso. Kline, S. (1995) ‘The play of the market: On the toy advertising taps into highly general stereo- Internationalization of Children’s Culture’, Theory, types, common denominators, and widely Culture and Society. 12, pp.103–129. shared desires. The promotion of the toys man- Macklin, C. M. (1999) : ufactured by multinationals thus relies on Concepts and Controversies, London: Sage. motifs, symbols and values assumed to be McNeal, J. U. (1992) Kids as customers.A handbook of shared by children of different nationalities. It marketing to children, New York: Lexington Books. Ray, N. M., Ryder, M. E. and Scott, V. S. (1994) draws on national and local traditions which the ‘Toward an understanding of the use of foreign promotion makes universal, or it invents imme- words in print advertising’, in T. R. Hassan and J. diately universal themes. R. Kaynak (eds.), Globalisation of Consumer However, the transnational advertising of toys Markets: Structures and Strategies. New York: cannot escape local obstacles: socio-cultural Haworth Press. Roedder-John, D. (1999) ‘Consumer socialization of variables, in fact, are unavoidable constraints. children: a retrospective look at twenty-five years Despite the standardisation of products targeted of research’, Journal of Consumer Research, 26,3, towards children, their advertising must neces- pp. 183–213. sarily be adapted. Commercials for toys Young, B. M. (1991) Television Advertising and produced by large multinationals mimic national Children. Oxford. socio-cultural realities by altering iconic and ver- bal elements. By means of minimal adjustments, nuances of translation, changes of apparently Simona De Iulio is Maître insignificant details, the message is fitted to the de conférences (Associate Professor) in Communication territory where it is broadcast. In this way, Sciences at the University though children of different nationalities seem to of Strasbourg and member have fun with the same toys, they do not play the of the GRESEC (Groupe de same game. recherche sur les enjeux de la communication) of the References University of Grenoble. Her current research interests Acuff, D. S. and Reiher, R. H. (1997) What kids buy include marketing and and why. The psychology of marketing to kids.New child culture. York:The Free Press. De Iulio, S. (2001) ‘Les spots publicitaires transna- Zouha Dahmen-Jarrin has tionaux: des solutions à géométrie variable’, Les an MA in Journalism and a Dossiers de l’Audiovisuel, 99, pp.64–66. PhD. in Communication De Iulio, S. (2004) ‘Publicité transnationale et culture Sciences. In her work as enfantine’, pp. 151–162, in N. Diasio (ed.), Au a researcher at GRESEC, Palais de Dame Tartine. Regards européens sur la con- her interests include sommation enfantine. Paris: L’Harmattan. transnational media and de la Ville, I. (2004) ‘L’activité de consommation communicational strategies enfantine: les prémices d’un dialogue transdisci- with a focus on on plinaire?’, pp. 27–41, in N. Diasio (ed.), Au Palais developing countries.

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