Tuesday, August 21st 2007
Put the cereal before the serial
Aah, the good old days when Tony the Tiger told us They’rrre Grrreat, Coco the Monkey would rather have a bowl of Coco-pops and Rik Ricicle was the coolest kid in outer-space. The days when the character was created for the breakfast cereal and ‘pester-power’ never existed, where did it all go wrong?
Children are becoming more brand-aware at an earlier age, but is this necessarily a good thing? Has this brand-washing gone too far?
And it doesn’t stop at breakfast cereal, amazingly there are pasta shapes in tomato sauce with the classic children’s character Bagpuss on the label, what is going on?
Too many characters loved by children are being used to promote foods high in fat, sugar and salt, leaving parents feeling powerless to say no.
With a bit of luck we’ll end up with a visually-aware, brand loyal generation, suitable for a career in marketing and design! As long as obesity doesn’t get to them first.
Posted by Richard on Tuesday 21st of August 2007 at 8:54am
Subscribe
This is ANOTHER personal bugbear of mine - the seemingly unstoppable convergence of individuality with global brands. I know this is the kind of thing you chaps strive for - customers who align themselves closely with brands, but walking behind a young person a couple of years ago who had a NIKE tattoo on their ankle made me question how far is sensible. Specifically I've heard a NIKE representative saying that their products almost 'get in the way' of their core business - which is to build a global sport/lifestyle brand. Following this business model puts their trainers, clothes and sports equipment way down the list of priorities and lets them drop their far eastern suppliers at the drop of a hat if they can't match another factory on price. Discuss.
Wow, rant over.
Posted by Simon B5 on Tuesday 21st of August 2007 at 6:37pm