The book I'm currently reading is entitled The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence and is written by authors Henry A. Giroux and Grace Pollock. Mouse That Roared is a rather dry academic diatribe against Disney's corporate ills. Academic ramblings aside, I did find one interesting bit of trivia regarding Disney's corporate research team in my reading. In the authors' words, "On way in which Disney discovers 'emotional hooks' that lure boys into the 'wonderful world of Disney' is to hire child psychologists, anthropologists, and other researchers, such as Kelly Peña, also known as the 'Kid Whisperer'".First off, what an awesome nickname. Second, I love that somewhere in the world there exists a group of full grown adults whose job it is to observe and study children, all for the sake of Disney's bottom line. I was intrigued by this sentence in Mouse That Roared, so I decided to do a quick bit of supplementary research on my own online. After a speedy online search I came up with this awesome New York Times article on the aforementioned Kid Whisperer.
A quick summary of the article for those not interested in reading it: basically in an effort to try to seize the attentions of the lucrative 6-14 year-old boy market, Disney hires researchers to study young male test subjects. These researchers assemble notes on their encounters and hand these notes to Disney, who uses the research in the creation and marketing of their media properties. The investigative work these teams do, according to the New York Times article, involves researchers going through the boys' closets, watching them shop, and conducting one-on-one interviews.
I found this story fascinating. It provides a tantalizing look behind the scenes at the marketing machine that is Disney. It also sheds a bit of light on some interesting individuals I'd love to know more about. I want to know what makes the members of this research team tick. I mean, how surreal would it be to get paid to go through a 12-year-old's sock drawer?
This is great! I love the title the Kid Whisperer. He Who Died may have been one but misused that gift!
ReplyDeleteI loved the article but wouldn't parents feel weird about the researcher and wouldn't the researcher feel weird herself? I do love that job though, some people have great lines of work.
Too bad the book was dry: it's interesting subject matter. I love nefarious companies making millions on exploiting children.
"I loved the article but wouldn't parents feel weird about the researcher and wouldn't the researcher feel weird herself?" - that's what I thought too! And the kids only got a mere $75 in return!
ReplyDelete"I love nefarious companies making millions on exploiting children." - Same! Sometimes it's fun to be ripped off though (see Star Wars 1999 KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell toys!)