I've worked in a preschool for a couple of years and I can't count how many times the kids would randomly burst out into a frozen song, or start reenacting a scene of the movie. This year alone three little girls told me they were going to be the character Queen Elsa. And being that I've seen the movie myself a few more times than I'm willing to admit, I used to love the fact that the kids and I could play and bond over something we both knew.
It's crazy to think about how plugged in the kids are, and worse how young it starts. If at three years old they're holding onto a brand like frozen, almost a year later, it's a wonder how long they'll cary it with them into the other stages of their lives. And Frozen has transformed from a movie to a world wide brand name. The Frozen brand has everything from stuffed figurines, books, dolls, clothing, blankets, room decor and now a big seller halloween costumes.
Halloween costume choices are one of the few sacred choices as a kid that is genuinely theirs to make. But today it seem's that this may not be as true as it once was. How much are they really in charge or is it really just coincidence that hundred's of kids all wanted to be the same 5 characters for Halloween.
Not only is it taking the personality out of the choice but it brings into question the nature of this costume craze, which came first the kids genuine love for frozen, or the absolute crazy of advertising and product push that made all these kid's beg for a Frozen themed costume this year? We may not have the exact answer to that, but I'm sure it's no where near as an organic affinity as we might like to believe.
Disney 'Frozen' costumes take Halloween by storm
I also find that it is hard to determine whether or not children's decisions are merely their own, or are influences from outside sources, such as Frozen in this instance. Children's minds are influenced so young due to marketing and advertising, so it is safe to say that much of what they believe and perceive is in response to what is told and shown to them everyday.
ReplyDeleteWow this is a really great point, I think that's so true, we really can't know since they really are constantly inundated with advertising since they're born!
DeleteWhat if the marketing and advertising on children also has a powerful effect on parents? I've followed a blogger on Instagram. She post a picture in which her two really young kids were dressed up in Frozen costume and she was really excited. It's no doubt that she chose the costume for her children since the kids were too young to even know what they were doing. A lot of parents are really busy. If marketers are advertising some product directly to children while at the same time, let parents believe this is the right product for children, this is what their children would like and this is popular among your children's friends, the marketing social issue is even more severe.
ReplyDeleteAlso a great point, it's sort of like the diapers we read about at the beginning of class, the kids may not even be away of what they are showing to the world based solely on their parent's decisions, or rather the marketing influences.
DeleteI just heard on the news that Frozen is expected to continue to sell through December as well. It will be going past simply a Halloween costume for young children and move into a holiday outfit for them. I think this Halloween Frozen didn't just attract young children, though. There were many videos uploaded to YouTube on how to do the makeup and hair for Elsa that featured people in their early to late twenties. Also, it's interesting that Elsa seems to be the main character marketed. While as in the movie Shrek, for example, items were sold fairly equally for all the main characters. Why aren't young boys taking the main boys character in the movie to such an envy an extreme as Elsa?
ReplyDeleteI LOVE YOUR POINT MARISSA! Personally, I feel like young boys are often left behind in much of the advertising and marketing especially if it is not somehow selling violence. I have noticed that in Princess movies, most of the male roles revolve around making sure that the princess is "safe from danger," but more than that the character is not really explored. Why is it that the the industry is so obsessed with differentiating genders and their roles?
DeleteI agree with you that boy or male characters are often not as popular as the girls´. Probably because most of the characters in movies are very untouched and not well thought through; male characters are often only described on the surface of the character. But for the marketing I think that even in Frozen one other character is also very much part of the marketing strategy. It is Olaf, who can be identified as a male character. Olaf is one of those typical characters, which are supposed to get the laughters in for the movie and is most of the times synchronized by a very funny/popular comedian. I also like your example of Shrek which focusses on many different genders in their marketing. In the end I think that frozen was just a movie targeted to young girls who were supposed to see a strong self-confident woman. Not every movie has to be targeted to all children.
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