To Infinity and Beyond: Character Merchandising and Children's Toys

Abstract

Character merchandising is often seen as a way to woo unsuspecting young consumers but what do children make of all this? This paper reports a small qualitative study looking at the response of children, aged six to eight, to character toys. The preliminary findings show that while children have very clear ideas about what characters they like, this is mediated by social as well as marketing influences and any loyalty may be short lived under peer pressure.