Toy Commercials Across Europe Simona De Iulio, Zouha Dahmen-Jarrin
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Toy 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 MARKETING 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, advertising 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 12 Child & Youth Insight July – September 2004 TOY MARKETING at children uses standardised solutions and the cars 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