The Localization Strategies of

Sesame Street is an American show designed to educate children through television in order to bridge the educational gap between kids from different economic backgrounds. (Dykstra) It was broadcasted for the first time in 1969, and by 2009 the show was being broadcast in over 120 countries. (Friedman)

Sesame Street first appeared in Poland, in the native language in 1996. As a child

I grew up with Żółtodziub (), Potwór Ciasteczkowy (),

Florek (), and Zosia (Zoe). By the time my sister was born and watching the show in the mid-2000’s Smok Bazyli and Owca Beata, a goofy dragon and his sheep co-star joined the cast. Soon enough, these exclusively local characters stole the show and, in Poland, became as distinctly identifiable with the program, as mentioned afore. Poland is no exception; today there are twenty independent, localized versions of the show.

This paper will attempt to demonstrate why globalization can be a positive force through analyzing the localization strategies that Sesame Street adopted in order to suit local context outside the United States and most importantly, it will aim to explain the importance of this specific, international approach. The success of Sesame Street is important because it is a pioneer in the education of children who ultimately, are the world’s future. Naturally, for reasons of space it will not be possible to examine all the localized versions of

Sesame Street, therefore this paper will concentrate on four countries that best depict the individual cultural impact on the show; Egypt, , China and

Israel.

“The Sesame Street approach to its global audience typically involves creating local productions based on the traditions and values of the cultures 2 where they are to be broadcast.” (Dykstra) For each coproduction, characters, settings and the curriculum of the show are created specifically to fit the environments in which they are broadcasted. Some coproductions use classic

Sesame Street characters, while others stray further from the original and moderate the entire cast and set. However, to , the creator of

Sesame Street, the most important part of the show are not the Muppets, teaching the alphabet or how to count, but "the aim is really to foster mutual respect for one another. The show is about warmth and human understanding" (Riechers) which is why, despite minor and major changes present in the different versions of the show, education and tolerance are universally promoted values. However, their depiction can take different forms.

For instance, in Egypt, a version of Sesame Street titled Alam Simsam emphasized the significance of gender equality, health and hygiene practices and reinforced environmental messages. (Geoghegan) Here, Big Bird and Oscar the

Grouch are replaced with Khokha, a bright pink girl-Muppet with big ambitions, and Nimnim, a patient, nature-loving boy-Muppet. “Above all, they are designed to inspire girls, in a country where, according to the United Nations, many living in rural areas still drop out of school as young as eight or nine, and where only just over 2% of MP’s are women.” (Hawley) The series, which literally translates into Sesame's World, has been produced by Karma Productions, an Egyptian company, who collaborated with Sesame Street's original creators at the New

York-based Sesame Workshop1. It is funded by the United States through a foreign aid arm called USAid, who together with the Egyptian Government help promote female development. (Hawley) Executive producer, Amr Koura says the

1 Formerly the Children’s Television Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street

3 show tries to challenge the perceptions of gender roles and since, Khokha wants to be someone socially important Alam Simsam tries to teach the viewers that it is acceptable for a girl to have dreams, to go into education and to have a career.

(Hawley) Many episodes depict girls partaking in activities that are commonly associated with boys, like, learning to fly. At the same time boys are shown baking cakes or cleaning. “In a country where less than half of the women are literate, television has almost universal reach”, but feminists like Fatma Khafagy of the United nations Children’s Fun, argue that, especially in the Arabic world, it often reinforces stereotypes and that the media still projects images of women that are not entirely positive. (Hawley) Sesame Street in Egypt has made it a mission to change this and it has been depicting women and girls, like Khokha, as strong and equal to men for the past twelve years.

Additionally “young people in Egypt watch Sesame Street to a later age than is true in other regions, which means some kind of creative adaptation of an apparently common media experience” (Stearns) further supporting the theory that maintaining cultural independence through a novel approach to a foreign media is possible, and that globalization does not have to be a negative force.

While Alam Simsam focuses on social and cultural principles, this is not always the case. Besides teaching about sharing and cooperation, Zhima Jie, the

Chinese edition of Sesame Street focuses on national, historical values. Da Niao, who is Big Bird’s cousin and a truck mechanic, as well as several other key characters are all, Chinese. They perform many of the usual Sesame Street activities, like introducing kids to numbers and letters but “Instead of the alphabet they teach the origin and meaning of Chinese characters, they explain the history and customs of certain festivals and they describe certain ancient art

4 forms.” Cooper Wright, the show’s senior producer explains that, “The Chinese want an environment that’s relaxed and fun, that their children can be learning in. They think they have enough formal settings for learning already. But they wanted it to include a lot of their ancient culture. The parents get home late, they all work, and they don’t have time to teach their children this, so they feel the show will help with that.” (Zwingle)

In China, education through TV is exceptionally significant. The ‘one-child’ policy that was enforced for decades produced millions of only children who no longer live in large families that once encouraged such behaviors. (Zwingle) As the world dove into the 21st century, kids gained easy access to a plurality of digital and traditional sources. With such a tool at hand and increasingly absent parents 2 , they began to reach out beyond their parents and immediate environment for information. TV is a vital instrument of this modern, digital world and programs such as Sesame Street can substantially resonate with children who are sitting at home alone. Additionally Professor Li Ji Mei, who designed part of the show’s curriculum, explains that, “We want to concentrate on reflecting Chinese families, such as what children could do to show their respect for the family. Another important part of the program is to make children realize how much their parents do for their well-being.” (Zwingle)

In some countries, the lessons provided by the program are even more profound than in the examples mentioned thus far. “Another new venture, one of the most ambitious yet, is a joint Israeli/Palestinian effort called Rechov

Sumsum/Shara'a Simsim”. (Raugust) It was first aired in April of 1999 on

2 China’s employment rate of mother’s aged 25 to 34 with children under the age of 6 is 72.0% (catalyst)

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Educational Television and Al-Quds Educational Television. The series was made up of 60-episode series and included scenes from two separate streets, one representative of each culture, with its own Muppets and actors. The episodes included several crossover sequences, where both Muppets and human characters from each street visit each other, do things together and are incorporated into each show in order to depict cultural similarities and promote cross-cultural friendships. (Raugust)

The education impact of Sesame Street and its local adaptation is not purely hypothetical. A study published in the International Journal of Behavioral

Development examined children’s judgments about others within the context of the Middle Eastern conflict. The study had two primary objectives; the first was to define: the state of children’s stereotypes of the other culture, their knowledge about the everyday lives of people from the other culture, their application of moral judgments in regards to inter-group, peer conflicts, and their knowledge of cultural symbols. The second goal was to evaluate the effect of Rechov

Sumsum/Shara'a Simsim on children with respect to the aspects mentioned above. (Cole)

The data revealed that children in the region of the Middle East, as young as 4 years old, held negative stereotypes about the other culture. Moreover,

Palestinian children were more likely to attribute negative characteristics to

Jews. The study provided proof that children as young as preschool age make negative attributions about others based on stereotypes. Their descriptions seem to reflect the political turmoil and weak relationship between Israel and

Palestine. Multiple Palestinian children described Israeli’s as ‘wanting to put us in jail’ and ‘shoots at us’. Jewish children’s descriptions of Arabs were not as

6 negative, however, Jewish children also used some discouraging stereotypes, which appeared to reflect the disorder in the region. For example, Israeli children described Arabs as ‘people who want to take our land’ and ‘terrorists’.

(Cole) Though after 4 months of exposure to /Shara'a Simsim, only Israeli children displayed a change in their response pattern regarding their knowledge of cultural similarities, it was a significant change nonetheless.

Especially boys showed an increase in the use of the word ‘both’. A change from splitting the two cultures to nominating children from both Israel and Palestine may indicate that the Jews had begun to understand that everyday activities like riding a bike, or professions such as doctor or lawyer are common to both ethnic groups. (Cole)

A similarly heavy emphasis is placed on respect and understanding in the

South African , which in “2002 saw the a TV debut of the first

HIV positive Muppet.” (You) In South Africa, where in 2007, it was estimated that

18.1% of the population aged 15 to 49 was living with HIV or AIDS, the program chooses to teach about AIDS awareness through the use of an HIV-positive

Muppet named who has been orphaned by her also sick parents. “While such a character would undoubtedly be considered controversial if seen on the

American version of Sesame Street, local experts determined that the only way to have a responsible educational children’s program in South Africa was to include this kind of information that kids desperately need.” A year after Kami’s first appearance, in 2003, UNICEF formally appointed the Muppet a global ‘Champion for Children.’’’(Dykstra)

Kami challenges the stereotype of an HIV-infected sickly child and focus instead on fun and friendliness. She introduces basic information and promotes

7 discussion about serious issues, like death and social ostracism. She has to deal with rejection at school because of her condition and wins over her classmates with her cheerful character, teaching children a lesson in tolerance and understanding her sickness. (Hawthorne) The show incorporates all eleven of

South Africa's official languages into its pedagogue-approved scripts, and an estimated half-million kids see it each week. The AIDS epidemic affects nearly one in nine South Africans, including about 250,000 children. “A major obstacle in the fight against the disease is the stigma associated with it. The subject of

AIDS is regarded by many people as taboo and sufferers, whether adults or children, are treated as social outcasts.” (Hawthorne) Since there few media outlets that directly address HIV for very young children, Takalani Sesame fills this void an provides kids with an educational alternative to their oftentimes harsh immediate environments. (Hawthorne)

Moreover, Robert Knezevic, Sesame's head of international project management and development admits that producers “will be seeing how the character unfolds and what potential it might have in other parts of the world."

Kami could put new life into South Africa's HIV/AIDS awareness campaign and provides the Global South with an opportunity to have a worldwide reach.

(Hawthorne)

Most importantly, however, besides just localizing its content, Sesame

Street makes sure to bring its regional strategy to a whole new level, through adapting its broadcasting medium. "We change it all the time to keep it current," says Cooney. (Riechers) Sometimes the best way of delivering their educational message is not through a TV. There are several countries in which Sesame Street

8 is broadcasted 3 where televisions, and sometimes-even electricity is not commonly found in private homes. For instance, in Bangladesh, kids gather round a TV mounted on a rickshaw to watch the show. They do the same with

TV’s set up on vegetable carts in India. Sesame Street also established a partnership with Malaria No More, and formed a book program in Tanzania that teaches children about the importance of using mosquito nets. (Dykstra) In

South Africa, where radio is a much broader medium than TV the Sesame Street broadcasts audio shows and the same model is used in other weak television markets. (Raugust) Other times they turn to magazine publishing, home video, licensing, promotions and theme parks. "We look for the best opportunities to extend the reach and power of Sesame Street off the screen" says Miller.

(Raugust) In highly technologically advanced Western countries it operates on the Internet, on Social Networks and it has recently collaborated with Microsoft's

Kinect in order to create a 'two-way television' interactive game. (Deacon)

“Children are looking for different things nowadays, but the show has adapted to recognize that, with a constantly changing curriculum and even computerized graphics in some countries” says Scott Chambers, the senior vice-president of

Sesame Street's worldwide media distribution. (Geoghegan)

Last year, more than 68 percent of Sesame Street's revenues came from licensing and franchising their products. (Yunker) This paper aimed to demonstrate why globalization can be a positive force through analyzing the localization strategies that Sesame Street and their importance. The show has adapted its content and technology multiple times in order to reach viewers from foreign cultures. Though people all over are using television, which is more

3 Either a localized version or a dubbed version

9 commonly associated with Western values, they use it to interpret their unique cultures. Ye Chao, the show’s producer in Shanghai, does not think he is promoting American ideals. Instead, he says, “We just borrowed an American box and put Chinese content into it.” (Zwingle) That's the great irony of globalization, on the one hand we see the commoditization and harmonization of transnational media and companies blanket the world, but we also see differentiation of global brands and local reinventions. (Yunker) It seems that preventing the spread of globalization and media products seems like denying the Europeans sushi or the Americans crêpes.

Over the past 40 years, Sesame Street has been seen by millions of children around the world. “No other program addresses the educational needs of underprivileged children on such an immense global scale.” (Dykstra) It became a model for future education programs. Sesame Street never shied away from difficult issues,” according to Dr. Charlotte Frances Cole, senior vice president of global education at (Dykstra) and former UN

Secretary General Kofi Annan says, “There is nothing more important in preventing future crises than the kind of work Sesame Street does in so many countries around the world, in opening the minds of young people, in uniting us around our common humanity while respecting the culture and context of every country it works in.” (Dykstra)

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Simsim: A Sesame Street television series to promote respect and

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