Benefits and limitations of animated characters in contemporary advertising

Animated Characters in Advertisements

The History of Animated Characters in Advertisement

The Efficacy of Animated Characters in Advertisement

The Benefits of Animated Characters

The Limitations of Animated Characters

Conclusion and Areas for Further Investigation

Unlike the early days of animation and mass advertising when animated characters were still novel and largely unknown quantities, the choice of whether or not to use an animated character in a contemporary advertisement must be informed by the ample research and analysis regarding the benefits and limitations of these characters that has emerged over the intervening years. However, determining these benefits and limitations is not so simple as drawing up a list of positives and negatives, because the utility of animated characters depends upon a number of subjective details one must consider, to the point that what might be considered a limitation in one instance could actually be a benefit in another. This is not to suggest that one cannot effectively determine the benefits and limitations of animated characters in contemporary advertising, but rather than one must recognize that answering this question first requires a determination of the standards by which benefits, limitations, and utility are judged.

Like with nearly any facet of an advertising campaign, the decision to deploy animated characters must first depend on the target audience, whether it be adults, children, men ages 18-25, or any other combination of demographics. A look at the history of some of the most iconic animated characters will help one to appreciate how different characters influence different demographics, as well as provide a context for the use of animated characters in contemporary advertising. After determining the target demographic, one must then consider how much animated characters actually influence the purchasing behavior of that demographic, and what kind of animated character might be most effective. This step is particularly important because extensive research has shown that advertising affects children and adults differently by producing different kinds of associations between characters and products, and furthermore, than animated characters, and indeed, all advertising, is not nearly as effective as advertising and marketing textbooks would have their students believe. Understanding this allows one to consider what animated characters are particularly adept at, which is assigning certain unspoken qualities to a brand or product, for better or worse, and generating positive or negative associations.

Recognizing what animated characters can and cannot do allows one to ultimately define the two qualities of animated characters that function as the axes around which any other benefits or limitations rotate: control and longevity. Animated characters grant unprecedented control over the expression of meaning, and their fictional existence means they can persists long after their originators. However, this control and longevity may also function as a limitation, because the cultural meanings which animated characters express are not static, and particular characters may not be popular enough to sustain themselves in the long run. In the end the choice to use an animated character is always highly subjective, but this study can at least begin to detonate some of the unhelpful assumptions surrounding the use of animated characters in contemporary advertising as well as reveal some the particular strengths and weaknesses of the medium.

Chapter 1: The History of Animated Characters in Advertisement

Animated characters in advertising first took off with the widespread dissemination of the television, because although newsreels and movie theaters may have featured animated advertisements, many of the most famous animated characters did not arrive until the 1950s, when more and more people were able to afford their own television.

However, like animation in general, their emergence can be traced back to the illustrated mascots of the nineteenth century, such as "the Quaker oats man, [who] has been around since 1887."

Again, like animation in general, the animated characters of the 1950s were not aimed exclusively towards children, but rather represented a novel approach towards consumers in general. While today there is a widespread association of animation with children, to the point that one textbook claims that "animation is obviously a particularly good medium for advertising aimed at children" without offering any evidence, when the Leo Burnett advertising agency first developed famous characters like Tony the Tiger, the Jolly Green Giant, or the Pillsbury Doughboy in the 1950s and 60s, the campaigns were aimed at adults and children alike.

The continuing centrality of these characters to the marketing of their respective products reveals the utility of animated characters in general, but also serves as a jumping off point for a discussion of animated characters as they relate to different demographics.

The animated characters mentioned above have remained largely unchanged throughout their history, with the exception of Tony the Tiger, whose advertising materials have gradually shifted away from a general audience and recently has focused much more on children. This is because for many products, a character that appeals to a broad audience is most effective, because a variety of people often influence buying decisions for these products. For example, the products produced by Pillsbury and Green Giant are general household foodstuffs, and as such, a character than can appeal to everyone in the household would be most desirable. In the case of Tony the Tiger, as sugary cereals became associated almost exclusively with children, the character design and theme changed accordingly.

The case of Tony the Tiger reveals a general trend in the use of animated characters in advertising from their initial emergence to today. Although the initial spate of animated characters of the 1950s and early 60s appealed to general audiences, as time went on they began to differentiate themselves according to specific demographics, so that characters like Tony the Tiger and the Keebler Elves were increasingly marketed towards children, while characters like the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Jolly Green Giant, and the Brawny paper towel man were directed towards women, and to a lesser extent men, above and beyond other members of the household, based on the assumption that women would be responsible for the majority of household purchases. This assumption was then reinforced through the programming during which these advertisements aired, as evidenced by the fact until very recently, "men engaged in twice as many occupations as women, who dominated the commercial airwaves as housewives."

While recognizing this gender disparity will become important later when considering the limitations of animated characters, for now it is only necessary to recognize that these animated characters have gradually been aimed at more and more specific audiences.

Thus, while characters from the first wave of animated advertising went from targeting a general audience to more specific demographics, subsequent characters were designed from the start to target specific groups, and now the "reinvention" of older characters in order to attract a new audience is a relatively common occurrence. For example, when the king character representing Burger King was first created in the 1970s, he "was a cheery cartoon character who performed magic tricks with cheesy sidekicks like Sir Shakes-A-Lot and the Wizard of Fries," but "in 2004 Crispin Porter + Bogusky reintroduced the BK King as a quirky, and some say creepy, character that appeals to young men."

The reinvention of the BK King represented a shift away from fast food advertising geared towards children and towards advertising geared towards young adults, as a variety of social and economic changes meant that more and more young people had disposable income and made their own decisions when it comes to purchasing fast food.

Of course, this trend is merely a single symptom of the overall tendency towards more and more precise demographic targeting, but it is worth pointing out in the specific case of animated characters because it factors so heavily into determining the benefits and limitations of using an animated character in contemporary advertising. When determining whether or not to use an animated character, one must consider the product, target demographic, and the character itself, because, for example, deciding to use the Pillsbury Doughboy to market a new product brings with it wildly different considerations than deciding to create an entirely new character, especially because that character will likely have to focus on a clearly defined demographic, whereas older characters can still appeal to a much larger audience merely due to their age and ubiquity. However, just because the use of any particular animated character carries with it a nearly insurmountable number of specific, subjective considerations, this does not mean that one cannot provide some general guidelines for what works and what does not, and the first place to find some of these guidelines is in the academic research regarding the effect of animated advertisements on the audience, especially as it relates to purchasing behavior and brand identification.

Chapter 2: The Efficacy of Animated Characters in Advertisement

In order to effectively address the benefits and limitations of animated characters, one must first do away with some lingering assumptions regarding animated characters in advertisements that have thus far prevented a reasonable discussion of the subject. These assumptions are born out of two ideological extremes, but essentially make the same case: that advertising, and animated characters in particular, are able to meaningfully influence product preference and purchasing habits. On the one side are those who argue against advertisements aimed at children due to a belief that children are uniquely susceptible, and on the other side are those who sell advertisements and advertising, such as ad agencies and business school textbook authors, out of a belief that advertising is able to effect product preference in any meaningful way. In short, both of these groups are incorrect, because advertising, and animated characters in particular, actually have fairly little influence on product preference and purchasing decisions. They can generate recognition and positive emotional connections between the audience and the product, but these connections do not necessarily translate into actual purchases. However, in order to demonstrate why this is the case, one must examine some relevant scientific research on the subject and attempt to inject some reasonable skepticism into the hyperbolic claims of parents' groups and advertising cheerleaders.

Aside from market research concerning the success or failure of certain advertising campaigns, over the course of the last thirty years there has been substantial academic research into the perception of animated characters and their effect on purchasing and brand identification, especially as they relate to children. Though the majority of the research focuses on children, by implication this will reveal useful information about adults as well. The first thing to note is that children as young as kindergarten-age are able to meaningfully distinguish between human and animated characters in advertising, suggesting "that children may not be as easily exploited as detractors of children's advertising assert."

While the goal of this study is not to defend children's advertising, recognizing that children are not as susceptible to animated advertisements as is commonly believed is important to recognize because it demonstrates that far from being "tricked" into liking a product by an animated character, children regard these characters from a (relatively) critical perspective. Thus, while animated characters can be "successful promotion strategies that reinforce brand recognition and positive associations," it cannot be assumed that any animated character aimed at children will able to do this, and furthermore, that these positive associations will necessarily correlate with actual product preference.

There are two important studies, one from 1986 and another from 2004, which have served to challenge some of the assumptions surrounding animated characters in advertisement, and it will be useful to examine these studies because they demonstrate what one might call the unacknowledged truth of animated characters in advertising (and advertising in general), which is that animated characters, while particularly effective at generating positive associations with a brand or product, have far less influence on actual product preference and purchasing decisions. This fact is not frequently recognized in discussions of the benefits and limitations of animated characters in advertising, likely because it reveals that advertisers have far less control over consumer choice than they would like to believe. Of the five different marketing and advertising books consulted for this study, only two hint at this fact, and only one mentions it explicitly by noting "just because people love your character, it won't necessarily mean they love your brand."

The other include an anecdote about the meteoric rise and subsequent fall of the Taco Bell chihuahua, but does not speculate as to the reasons behind its fall).

However, even in these two cases, the possibility that an animated character has little direct influence on product preference is viewed as an afterthought, rather than the basis from which any consideration of animated characters should stem. It is crucial to recognize that animated characters can only go so far because "although public opinion suggests that spokes-characters influence […] product desires, academic research has generally failed to demonstrate this effect."

However, this should not be taken as a claim that animated characters are useless in contemporary advertising, but rather that they have not been approached with the proper sobriety and attention to evidence that they require if one is to accurately determine their benefits and limitations. Thus, examining animated characters inability to directly affect product preference will offer a robust, scientifically sound basis from which to determine the actual benefits and limitations of animated characters in contemporary advertising (while the inability to directly influence product preference might be considered a "limitation," it is less a limitation than a fact about the medium, because this limitation is shared by all advertising, regardless of the particular tactic used).

The two studies under consideration here concern themselves with the effect of animated characters on product preferences, and in both cases, the studies found that while animated characters are particularly good at generating recognition, association, and positive emotions, these do not necessarily translate into preference and choice. This is seen most blatantly in the 1986 study, which showed that host-selling advertisements, in which a product was advertised via the use of a character from the show on which the commercial aired, actually generated less of a change in preference towards the product than when the advertisement included a different character.

The later study attempted to pinpoint why phenomenon such as this occur, and found that "while research findings show that young children can exhibit high levels of character/product recognition, association, and affect, the challenge arises when we assume that these early responses lead to product preference, intention, and choice."

The researchers propose that this disconnect stems from the fact that attention, recognition, and emotional response are relatively simple cognitive processes, and as such can be induced fairly easily, but preference and choice by definition are dependent upon more complex cognitive processes, and thus are influenced far less by animated characters in advertisements. Recognizing this offers an ideal point from which to begin an actual accounting of the benefits and limitations of animated characters in contemporary advertising, because recognizing what animated characters simply cannot do allows one to focus on what they can do, and how well they can do it.

Chapter 3: Benefits of Animated Characters in Advertising

As has been shown, animated characters are not particularly adept at influencing product preference and choice, but they do excel at generating recognition, attention, and positive emotional connections, all of which increase a brand's visibility and the likelihood that someone will at least think of that brand when making purchases. On the most basic level, this is because animated characters function as symbols for the brand or product itself, and "can be used to transfer desired meanings to the product with which they are associated," thus imbuing that brand or product with some otherwise arbitrary character.

This is one reason why so many animated characters are animals; by using a specific animal, the advertisement can play on unspoken assumptions regarding that animal in order to "link the personality and cultural meaning of the character to the product in the minds of the consumer" as a way of creating "a desirable image, or meaning, for the product."

For example, the character of Tony the Tiger creates a connection between the cultural meanings of the tiger and Frosted Flakes, such that sugar-coated corn flakes are almost magically imbued with a sense of vitality and energy. This effect is so strong that it continues to work even in print ads, where characters lack the animation but are still able to imbue the product with meanings that generate more positive attitudes and associations with the product.

This demonstrates one of the most important benefits offered by using an animated character rather than a human spokesperson. Because the cultural and symbolic meanings of an animated character can be carefully controlled and regulated, "unlike a celebrity, they won't be caught shoplifting, driving under the influence, or saying something stupid in public."

Furthermore, animated characters "don't need their own VIP trailers or dressing rooms, cappuccino breaks, or trips on the company jet," and the proprietary elements of the character are negotiated via contract and trademark, and thus future use does not depend on any one person, which is what has allowed animated characters to endure for decades even after human spokespeople have been long forgotten.

This "affection and long-term relationship with the consumer" is self-reinforcing, because the related forces of nostalgia and irony allow characters to appeal to different generations for different reasons.

Thus, the two key benefits of using animated characters in contemporary advertising are control and potential longevity, both of which stem from their status as fictional entities not dependent upon any single person for their success. The high degree of control over an animated character allows advertisers to precisely calibrate the meanings they intend to convey about the product or brand, and because the character has no life of its own, advertisers need not worry about those meanings being muddled by extracurricular activities. Similarly, because characters are created by the company (or an ad agency it hires), the character can be reused and reinvented indefinitely over the course of decades, so that an investment in an animated character frequently pays off over the long run, as long as the company is around long enough to "reintroduce" it into its advertising lineup.

While this may seem like a relatively short list of potential benefits, this is because a number of the benefits often claimed to go along with animated characters are either nonexistent due to the relatively limited influence animated characters have on purchasing decisions, or are merely products of the control and longevity discussed above. This is why, for example, it is altogether unproductive to mention the receptivity of children as a potential benefit; while animated characters can often precipitate greater levels of recognition and positive attachment in children than a human spokes-character, this is also the case with adults, and as such one need not pretend that animated characters in advertising are any more useful than they really are. Put another way, animated characters already excel at what they do, so there is no need to imagine that they can do something more.

Chapter 4: Limitations of Animated Characters in Advertising

The limitations of animated characters in advertising are actually closely related to the benefits, because depending on the particular product and character used, these benefits can quickly become problems. The issue of control, which is a benefit of using animated characters in general, may become a limitation when a preexisting character is used. In the case of preexisting advertising characters, changes may actually have the result of destroying the good will built up by the character. The aforementioned example of the Burger King demonstrates this perfectly, because while the reinvented BK King was effective in engaging young men, many other demographics found him to be creepy; thus, the control one has when originally creating a character is gradually diminished with each iteration of that character.

Furthermore, some animated characters are saddled with cultural meanings from a different era, so while they continue to be used to this day, they actually serve to reinforce negative stereotypes that likely hurt the brand. The most egregious example of this is Aunt Jemima, who remains the central mascot of the titular syrup brand but who has not been heavily used in contemporary advertisements due to the uncomfortable racial and gender stereotypes she seems to portray. This is not to suggest that successful contemporary animated characters must not represent outdated stereotypes, but rather that only those who "do so unobtrusively and insidiously" will be successful.

Thus, while racially insensitive characters have been phased out over time, animated characters which implicitly advocate traditional gender roles are woefully common in contemporary advertising.

These problems of representation and control are especially relevant to animated characters, because while their longevity means that they offer a potentially endless source of advertising material, they often must be effective for a long period of time in order to justify the initial costs of creating and producing (or reinventing) the characters and subsequent commercials. The Taco Bell Chihuahua is an ideal example of this problem, because although "the Taco Bell Chihuahua was wildly popular, selling almost as many stuffed toys as tacos [….] after an initial increase, Taco Bell sales leveled off and declined slightly," leading the president to resign his post and the ad agency to lose its contract.

After the initial campaign, the character did not have the staying power necessary to justify its continued existence (partially due to the fact that many perceived the Chihuahua as reinforcing stereotypes about Latinos). Just as "there are advantages to be gained in not changing the characters with every change of commercial," so too are there disadvantages when the success of an ad campaign depends upon the longevity of its central character.

Finally, animated characters in advertising suffer from one final limitation unique to the medium (one could argue that both control and longevity are issues in any advertising campaign), which is the phenomenon known as the "uncanny valley." The uncanny valley is a concept used to describe the phenomenon by which "human-like objects like certain kinds of robots [or animated characters] elicit emotional responses similar to real humans proportionate to their degree of human likeness," but somehow "if a certain degree of similarity is reached emotional responses become all of a sudden very repulsive."