COMM 3560 Assignment 11

COMM 3560 Assignment 11 | Tulane University

Animation in Television AdvertisingIn the 1920s, cartoon figures made a comeback in advertising.   Seeing how successfulanimated movies were, such as ​The Little Mermaid ​and ​Who Framed Roger Rabit​ companiesbolstered animation in advertising.  According to David Vadehra, president of Video StoryboardTests, an advertising research company “animated commercials are making a big hit with thepublic (Kim Foltz).  In a yearlong study involving 24,000 participants, “commercials withanimated characters made a strong showing for the first time among the top 25 commercials thatthose polled said were their favorites of the year” (Foltz).Although animated spokespeople are not new to advertising, animation made a strongcomeback.  “Well-known characters like the Pillsbury Doughboy and Starkist’s Charlie the Tunahave been appearing in ads for decades” (Foltz).  It reflects the current popularity of animation.It is “a way to stand out from the glut of commercials using celebrity endorsers.  Pepsi andCoca-Cola, for example, are using a combined total of 15 celebrities.  These celebrities comewith risks.  There is always a chance of scandal and the brand's desire to distance themselvesfrom it.  Marketers actively seek out to purchase the rights to popular animated characters.  Forexample, “commercials for McDonald’s and Pampers used Mickey Mouse and other WaltDisney cartoon characters” (Foltz).Animated brands allowed advertisers to create a specific image and shape it around thebrand.  It was “an easy way to give a new brand personality” (Foltz).  Animation also provided a

Scott 2simple way to demonstrate the product.  The consumer can easily view a tutorial without thecomplexities of live action.  Animation reaches a young audience.  Kraft General Foods launched a Jell-O campaignad targeting children.  “Animation embodies the innocence and fun that are so much a part oftheir world” (Foltz).Just as animated advertisements can target children, animated advertisements can targetadults.  Based on the ​Roger Rabbit​ movie, the style of combining live action and animation iscommonly used to capture an older audience’s attention.  According to Peter Friedman,executive producer of Lucas Film Commercial Products, “people get so involved and are havingso much fun that they don’t feel they are getting a hard sell” (Foltz).  The artfulness of animationintroduces a medium the audience is not used in advertising.Due to the technological advancements, kids expect more sophisticated cartoons, andthus the ads which accompany them.  They want better animation.  According to Jeff Jensen’sarticle, “advertisers spent $500 million last year on what they call “the only sure-fire medium”for reaching kids” (Jensen).  Advertisers will focus on programs geared toward amale-adolescence audience oppose to a female-adolescent audience.  According to GeorgeHayes, senior VP-marketing director at McCann-Erickson Worldwide, New York, “guys don’twatch girls’ programming, but girls watch guys’ programs” (Jensen).  Saturdays are primeviewing time for advertisers.  The era of Sunday morning cartoons is passed.  Kids love cartoons.“Fox Broadcasting Co.’s “The Simpsons” has finished in Nielsen Media Research's top 20 and isthe No. 1 show among kids and teens combined” according to Nielsen statistics (Jensen).

Scott 3“Last year, nearly the entire inventory for all kids programming was sold out withinhours during the advance, upfront selling season.  Prices for a 30-second spot can range from$12,000 to $20,000, even higher during the fourth quarter” (Jensen).  Experts have concludedadvisers are smart to buy all the kids programming available.  Specialist in kid’s advertising,Allen Bohbot suggests “you can’t be choosy... buy all the kids programs you can get” (Jensen).“Only in the last four years have top publishers tapped their potential as an ad medium.DC Comics, a Time Warner unit, and Marvel are improving their product and offering moreextensive marketing programs to attract advertisers” (Jensen).Animated advertisements are cheaper to produce compared to live action advertisements.The mass production process is similar to that of an assembly line.  A company can generate alarge number of ads efficiently providing them with a cache of finished material.  Animated adsremove the visual clutter of live action cinema.  This designates the viewer’s attention towardsthe product.  In addition, animation offers advertisers the ability to depict complex ideas.  Adsdepict an infinite amount of concepts.  A company selling a service would require differentanimations than a company selling a good.  However, the future of animation in advertising isuncertain.  Today, it is commonly used in advertisements targeting children.For example, in the 1960s the Green Giant Company found success with their animatedcharacter the Jolly Green Giant.  However, with a few years, the giant failed to still grab theviewer’s attention.  The Green Giant Company began researching for another animated sponsor;however, the advertising classic Green Giant “had generated a set of expectations in viewerswhich, if violated in the restaging process, would rest uncomfortably with the viewer,” said AlSamuelson in his article “Animation in advertising: An uncertain future” (2).  Because of brand

Scott 4loyalty and the animation’s fanbase, the Green Giant Company needed to stay close to themythology behind the Green Giant.  The company’s research resulted in the solution: LittleGreen Sprout.  The researched showed the viewers understood this younger and cuter animationas “the quintessence of the child in all of us” (Samuelson 2).  “He is the embodiment of a lesshurried, more substantive world where time doesn’t rush by, one where we would naturallyexpect good foods to be grown” (Samuelson 2).  Green Giant Company commercials separatedtheir brand from their competitors.  It associated the product to a landscape of large green fieldsfor the viewer.  The introduction of Little Green Spout continues this image.  While consumersshop, they associate the company’s products with the healthy and vibrant Little Green Spout.According to Alan J. Bush, Joseph F. Hair, JR., and Robert P. Bush’s article “A ContentAnalysis of Animation in Television Advertising” in the Journal of Advertising.  Based on theirresearch, several general claims can be made about advertising on television.“Approximately three percent of all TV advertising on the major networks as well ascable networks contain totally animated advertisements.”“Television advertisements containing total and partial animation account forapproximately 20 percent of all TV ads.”“Animation in television tends to occur throughout the day.  Saturday morning containsthe largest number of animated ads.”“When a spokesperson is animated..., the spokesperson is generally characterized as ahuman being.  However, many advertisers are currently characterizing their spokesperson as ananimal portraying a human being or even as an animated galactic being.”

Scott 5“Advertisements for products with low levels of perceived risk tend to employ animationmore so than products with medium or high levels of perceived risk.”“National advertisers tend to employ animation more so than local advertisers.”  Thiscould be because animation is often used to explain complex ideas and the advertisers arereaching out to a large population, many undereducated.  This could also be because creatinganimation is labor intensive and a local store may not have the resources.“Animation in advertising occurs in both traditional and cable networks with similarfrequency.”  The effects of animation in advertising are not restricted by economic status.  Bothfree and subscription services run completely animated ads the same amount.●It was during the ‘60s and early ‘70s when animation in advertising was the mostpopular.●Toy Story​ and commodity fetishes●Animation in advertising originally came from animated shorts before movies in theaters.●“A relatively large percentage of institutional ads and ads for services use totallyanimated approaches.”Works Cited:By, KIM F. "Cartoon Figures make Comeback in Advertising." ​New York Times​​(1923-Current

Scott 6file)​, Mar 06, 1990, pp. 1. ​ProQuest​,https://search.proquest.com/docview/108453580?accountid=14437​.Bush, Alan J., et al. “A Content Analysis of Animation in Television Advertising.” ​Journal ofAdvertising​, vol. 12, no. 4, 1983, pp. 20–41. ​JSTOR​, JSTOR, ​www.jstor.org/stable/4188467​."Media: Things we Like." ​Campaign​, 2013, pp. 22. ​ProQuest​,https://search.proquest.com/docview/1440859291?accountid=14437​.Callcott, Margaretf., and Wei-Na Lee. “A Content Analysis of Animation and AnimatedSpokes-Characters in Television Commercials.” Journal of Advertising, vol. 23, no. 4, 1994, pp.1–12.Jensen, Jeff. “Animation Renaissance Snares Kids; Marketers Spend $500 Million on 'OnlySure-Fire Medium' for Reaching Youngsters. (Includes Related Article on CartoonAdvertisements) (Marketing to Kids).” Advertising Age, vol. 64, no. 6, 1993, p. S20.Samuelson, Al. “Animation in Advertising: an Uncertain Future.” ​Advertising Age​, vol. 53,1982, p. M4.