ABSTRACT
Talking sponges! Fruit-scented dolls! Bilingual backpacks! Cuddly blue dogs! Sentiment-savvy bears! Take a trip to your local Target or Wal-Mart, and you will be bombarded by a plethora of products featuring Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, Blue’s Clues, Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, and all of their character friends. From toys, clothing, books, and video games to toothbrushes, bubble bath, cereal, and snack foods, store shelves are overflowing with products prominently featuring children’s television and cartoon characters. “It’s true,” Linn acknowledges, “that books, films, and television programs have … always generated toys … But it has been only since 1984, when the Federal Trade Commission deregulated children’s television, that licensed products have dominated the market so completely” (pp. 72–73). This character invasion is not a coincidence. By June 2004, just 4 years after the character’s product launch, SpongeBob SquarePants products had generated more than $3 billion in retail sales (Drug Store News, 2004) of merchandise ranging from bandages, blankets, and bottles to toys, toilet tissue, and t-shirts. As retailers had strategically planned, SpongeBob could be found anywhere and on most any consumer product imaginable. Yet, this SpongeBob surge did not happen instantly. Licensing character merchandise is well orchestrated, carefully prepared and planned years in advance. It is specifically timed to coordinate at least 12 to 18 months after the launch of a children’s television series.
