Now listen to a lecture from a marketing class.
(male professor): Ok, so I've actually got a few different examples of this. You know, uh, when I was a kid, a character named Action Hero was really popular with my friends and me. We would always watch the Action Hero program on television every week and played games pretending we were strong and powerful as he was. Then pretty soon we began seeing these small Action Hero figures in all the stores. And, well, we all just had to have them. I mean, we've been watching the television show for so long that it seemed only natural to want to own toys, too.Well, I finally grew up and left Action Hero television program and toys behind. But, now, I have a 7-year-old daughter who watches television a lot and also like to play with her toys. And lately her favorite toy is a cute little baby doll with a big round face and lots of curly hair named Rosa. All my daughter's friends have Rosa dolls, too. And they enjoy going to each other's houses to play with them. Then a few weeks ago, my daughter came running up to me all excited because she just heard that there is going to be a new television program on every week with the doll, Rosa, as the main character. So naturally she and all her friends have begun watching the show. And it’s already very popular, as popular as the toy doll.
Using the examples from the lecture, explain the concept of Entertainment Merchandising.
Entertainment merchandising is an effective way of marketing in which a brand or an image from one product is used to sell another. And this is usually used in shows and movies connected with children. For example, when the professor was a kid, he and his friends really enjoyed a TV character called action hero. And they usually played together, pretending to be action heros . So when the toy that featured action heros came out, they all wanted it, and it was already popular from the onset. This is how entertainment merchandising markets a new toy with a popular TV show. In another example, however, the situation is reversed. The professor's daughter loves to play a cute little baby doll called Rosa, since it's very popular among little girls. When the TV show features Rosa as its main character, it becomes immediately successful, just like the action hero toy. (129 words)
