Context of Practice 3: The Disneyization of Society Notes [1]

BRYMAN, Alan, 2004, ‘The Disneyization of Society’, London, SAGE Publications

I referred to this book during level the 5 project; it describes and analyses how businesses have appropriated characteristics of Disneyland theme parks to influence buying habits and control the consumer experience.

There is a whole chapter on merchandising; I will document my notes and quotations below:

(All quotes are from Alan Bryman, unless otherwise marked)

'Merchandising is a form of franchising, in the sense that it is a mechanism for leveraging additional uses and value out of existing well-known images.' - p79

- Recognisable designs are appropriated and reproduced into other contexts... this is what we do as illustrators to create more products that appeal to a wider range of individuals.

- Product innovation is simply discovering new ways to sell the same assets in a new format

- We should interrogate the buzz around using new technologies to sell... for example the use of VR or augmented reality applications are a simple exploitation of 'the new'

'Merchandising has strong affinities with hybrid consumption' - p79

- Hybrid consumption in the context of Star Wars: Films -> novelisations/merchandise/video games/clothing/

- The films have become promotional material for the greater range of products

'It is no longer sufficient merely to turn out a hit movie, television show, magazine or book, because in many cases these products cannot be profitable on their own'
- WOLF,  M.J (1999), The Entertainment Economy: How Mega-Media Forces are Transforming our Lives, New York, Times Books

'Merchandising can be hugely profitable, it means that items that cost very little to make can be sold for substantial amounts by simply adding a logo or image to them or by manufacturing a doll or soft toy into a well-known and immediately recognisable form, such as Mickey Mouse or Darth Vader'  -p80

- Cheap popular regurgitation. Value is based on familiarity... culture
- Merchandising = commodity fetishism + culture + packaging
- Merchandise sold through partnerships with fast foods... cereals etc.
- Immediacy of product access, acts as an advertisment for the greater franchise, and thus all other products

Example:

 .Essentially the same product marketed to different audiences through packaging
.Frozen Princess Cereal appeals to girls because there is a picture of the Frozen princesses on it
.Olaf Cereal appeals more so to younger children because there is a picture of Olaf on it
.Darth Vader/R2D2 Cereal appeals to boys because there is a picture of Darth Vader on it

Isn't it hellish?

'Creating merchandise with the appeal and recognisability of Disney Logos and characters or the first raft of Star Wars images is a kind of holy grail which few companies can attain but increasingly has become a goal that is potentially highly profitable.' p81

There are of course exceptions...

Merchandising has it's origins in Disney, one of the precursors to Mickey Mouse was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Several popular animated shorts were made in 1927, Disney had failed to realise that he had not retained rights to the name of the character, or indeed merchandising. After deals with the distributors, it became paramount to safeguard licensing and all relevant rights pertaining to every single character created in the studio.

- Mickey Mouse watch

- Disneys 'crusade' for increasingly higher quality animation was expensive. It has been suggested that around half of Disneys profits during the late 20s and into the 30s were from merchandising.

- The design of characters becomes highly influenced by the potential for merchandise-based manufacture as well as on-screen appearance.

- It is ensured that characters are 'cute' even when also grotesque (Goofy)

- Mickey develops from having the features of a rodent, into become something cute and childlike

- Walt on Jungle Book 'it has a little boy in it, Mowgli and lots of animals and both are great for merchandising'