Page 102 - The Disneyization of Society

MERCHANDISING

One surprise merchandising bonanza was in 1998–1999 when the cartoon
series South Park was used on a vast array of merchandise. In the UK alone,
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between August and December 1998, £50 million was spent on South Park mer-
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chandise. What makes this success warrant being called a surprise is that unlike
most of the major merchandising successes, it was not aimed at children. Indeed,
because of its adult content, the products and the advertising for them were
aimed at those aged over 18. In fact, the series and its merchandise are hugely
popular with children and what made the products so successful was that it
appealed both to them and 20-somethings – a rare occurrence. In a sense, the
South Park phenomenon underwent a transformation for the latter group.
Armstong argues that as we get older, we usually switch from ‘entertainment mer-
chandise’ to ‘brand merchandising’, like CK, Ralph Lauren, The Gap, and so on. 52
He argues that the case of South Park merchandise defied this law, but in a sense
perhaps this misses the point. For these 20-somethings, South Park became a
brand. How else can we understand the fact that the numbers viewing the series
in the UK was relatively small, but the merchandise was a massive success? This
is an interesting case of a situation in which merchandising associated with enter-
tainment elided with brand merchandising. However, the main point to register
is that television series can become the catalyst for extremely successful mer-
chandising lines.

Theme parks

Unsurprisingly, in view of the likely influence of the Disney theme parks, theme
parks are major sites for the sale of all kinds of merchandising bearing copyright
logos and images relating to the parks or to their themes. Thus, at Universal
Studios, not only are items sold with the park’s name and logo emblazoned on
them, but also images from the studio’s vault of films, often accompanied by the
park’s name, are also sold. For theme parks without such ready-made images, they
have to be created. Thus, at Sea World, Shamu, the orca whale that acts as an icon
of the parks and whose show is one of their park’s major attractions, filled a void
in this regard. Giving Shamu a name and an identity through its interactions with
its trainers in the show acts as a merchandise lure. Shamu is by no means the only
source of merchandise, since the park can draw on its other animals and on its
claim that it provides a foundation for conserving endangered animals, which is
a means of linking images from nature with commercial concerns. Similarly, at
other theme parks characters have been invented to provide a focus for merchan-
dising. At Parque España in Japan, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza have been
turned into cartoon characters (as dog and racoon respectively) and the greater
potential of such emblems for merchandise may well have contributed to such a
development. 53