The Business of Children's Entertainment

Norma Odom Pecora

Guilford Press, Mar 6, 2002 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 190 pages

For the past 20 years, toy manufacturers have subsidized the development of children's television programming. The result has been the increased commercialization of children's popular culture; the creation of a "material world" of childhood characterized by brand-name toys, games, clothing, and television characters. Drawing upon historical and economic data and case studies of the media marketplace, this book examines how children have been developed into both an audience and a consumer group.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Children Become Consumers: 7
• Children Become Audiences: 24
• The Industries Television and Toy: 40
• Case Studies Smurfs and HeMan and ThunderCats: 60
• Alternatives: 81
• The Media Marketplace: 111
• International Expansion: 133
• Consequences: 152
• Notes: 159
• References: 167
• Index: 183

About the author

Norma Odom Pecora, PhD, teaches in the School of Telecommunications at Ohio University. Her areas of interest include issues of gender and childhood; topics that inform the courses she teaches and her research work. She is currently working on the contribution of popular culture to the construction of identity in young girls.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Business of Children's Entertainment; Guilford Communication Series
• Author: Norma Odom Pecora
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Guilford Press, 2002
• ISBN: 1572307749, 9781572307742
• Length: 190 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Consumer Behavior; Business & Economics / Corporate & Business History; Business & Economics / Marketing / Research; Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies; Social Science / Media Studies; Social Science / Sociology / General