COMM 2360 1nd Edition Lecture 11Outline of Last Lecture I. Kidsa. Trends b. Tweensc. Concernsd. LawsOutline of Current Lecture I. Kidsa. Implicationsb. Case Study 2- Disney II. Merchants of Cool documentary Current LectureSeptember 15, 2014test coming up in one week- either tonight/tomorrow- study guide- test will be harder MC concepts from the lecture – set of conceptual questions from reading that didn’t appear in lecture PENCIL Finishing up lecture on kids- transition cool kids site of controversy- kids- tweens- teenagers- schoolso used to be an adfree zone- but contained valuable captive aud o didn’t talk much about why schools would go along with plans that enable advertisers toget into children’s brain at the same time advertisers gaining access- public schools were cutting back/strapped for cash/ systematic defunding famous Harper’s mag article- lecture sponsored by Preggo- used to discuss concept of viscosity- slotted spoon test- Preggo is thick and won’t go through a slotted spoono people chomping at bit to contact children with brand These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.Implications - companies provide something in exchange for access to students o usually moneyo or ChannelOne monitorso or computerso free score boardo discounts - changes central mission of the school o public edu is meant to be public good funded by public money- turns us all into well informed citizens that can make decision in functional democracy want a meritocracy- don’t have to have money to go to school o when lesson plan is designed around positive brand ID- that’s a diff mission that teachinglesson about viscosity as sci concept - ID change from student to consumer;o or citizen to consumer o rarely will critics bring up the fact that this is distracting- objection to practice is that ads are ubiquitous- but REAL objection is school used to work on behalf of public interest/education now working on behalf of advertiserso truancy laws - restricting learning environment o now can’t talk bad about pepsi- host debate about their ethical principal - altering nutritional environment o hot lunches become junk food o candy and soda become only option for students if they want stack o this generation is going to be the first to no live as long as their parents o ex. coke responded to controversy by taking healthy line of drinks- replacing soda’s with that continual struggle- battle ground in terms of what serve students/what serves people trying to est Michelle Obama’s obesity campaign- changing pop tarts- wheat one pop tart- her campaign doesn’t have any teeth - but she has a voice that school boards choose to listen to or not Case Study 2: Disney - values inscribed by commercial cultureo Disney built business model around getting access to children/tweens- commercial exploitation is Disney’s game - milk toast/neutral prog- does Disney foster consumer values? o storm of merch that surrounds Disney films- o 360 degree branding- Disney EVERYTHING - inscribes set of value that are amenable to that level of merch - Disney is an “unofficial parent” and a powerful corporation o force in childhood development Finding Nemo- movie works- Benign surface, an innocenceo mission is to cultivate sense that Disney is magical – anything but a predatory company going after kids to extract money from them- o sacred cowo criticizing Disney- most controversial moments - takes demo- extracts money from it - Michael Eisner- past CEO of Disney- memo quote- 81-08o took company in niche by itself and turned into the big 6 o “we have no obligation to make art. we have no obligation to make history/statement. Our only goal is to make money” attempt by Eisner to say what kind of CEO he’s going to be don’t consider Disney to be unlike any other company (bottom line, what’s best for shareholders) - Bob Iger- Eisner contemporary- same mindset - does business by marketing to children - competing ID of citizen and consumer o think about diff bt citizen/consumer as ID citizen- vote, want what’s best for neighbors, Jesus? consumer- I’m going to get mine before you get yours - consume as much as possible- to hell with consequenceso if we foster ID of consumer- we’re essentially taking them down undesirable/destructive path - Naturalizes consumer ID Films as Ads - Finding Nemo, The Little Mermaido think of them as ads for products o Little Mermaid- 111m at box office; 1b in merch box office pale in comparison to merch o same can be said for almost any big Disney property o Lion King- 79 dollars to produce, 312 m box office, 1.5 b merch *not going to be asked about numbers; will be asked about return of movie and mercho payoff is long time in future- article written in 2005 for numbers- - set precedent- aping Disney - Can also look at Star Wars- initiated merch rainbow- Cars: $120 mil to product 460 box office, 2.5b merch - search for the perfect fetish story o if you can have a story about cars that can be transformed into objects on toy store shelves- great business model-o Toy Story – about fetishisation of toys- 2 hr long commercial- - High School Musical o is merch marketed towards HS- tweens o imagining what HS is like- when they go to school want to emulate older kids-o disneys most profitable asset- perfectly placed at demo aspiring to be older - setting up argument as to whether that’s harmful Reuters, June 10, 200- “Disney see merch retail sales of $30 bil” - Disney- successful at marketing to girls and not so much to boys - NY (Reuters)- Walt Disney said on Tues it expects retail sales of licensed merch to top 30 nil worldwide in fiscal 08- helped by its popular Disney Princess and HS Musical brand - last year- company said sales of merch rose to 27 bil- dbl from 5 yrs earlier- receives licensing fee- 8-10 percent of total retails sales- aim at “tweents” 9-12- - Friaes and Princess- 5 bil Related: Skylanders- 1.5 Bil from 2011-13 - $75 for game- $165-250 to play it - pay for game- then the real money isn’t in selling game- it’s selling characters you set on platform to activate game - Disney Infinity set to do the same - Disney games, Disney character- buy figurines to activate parts of game The Meaning of Cool- - transition
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