For the week of 4.24.06   

(Part 1 of 2)

Ever more children and teens are being swept up in a wave of consumer technology created and marketed specifically to them. And while some companies profit from the actual devices, others are busily devoting themselves to devising youth-oriented programming which will make such technology irresistible to children, indifferent to the harm their greed may cause. Increasingly, media programmers, toy and videogame manufacturers, fast-food restaurants and other corporations are forming partnerships with one goal – the marketing of goods and the installation of "brand loyalty" in children.

According to a United States Patent and Trademark Office application filed by the Walt Disney Company, in the near future McDonald's Happy Meal toys may be replaced with portable media players that hold Disney movies, music, games or photos.  McDonald's began outfitting its restaurants with wireless Internet connections in 2003, and has installed wireless services in more than 6,200 of its restaurants worldwide. By continuing to install wireless capability, McDonald's is paving the way for the portable media player to be a staple of its promotional lineup. Under the patented plan, a customer would buy a McDonald's meal and receive the portable media player and an electronic code that authorizes a partial download of a movie, video or other media file, which could be downloaded only in a McDonald's restaurant.  Each subsequent visit would earn more downloads, with the customer eventually receiving an entire movie or game. Earning a large file like a movie might require five trips or more to McDonalds. Such downloads would also carry advertisements aimed at children and teenagers, the most likely targets of the promotion. (New York Times, December 12, 2005)

During its first 10 years on the air. Radio Disney expanded from conventional AM and FM broadcast radio to satellite radio, cable TV and video-on-demand. Now, in a push to reach 6-to-14-year-olds, Radio Disney is offering feature material created specifically for podcasting downloadable to MP3 players. The success of the recent iTunes soundtrack to Walt Disney Co.'s High School Musical is creating a demand for other Disney properties. Radio Disney says there have been about 170,000 downloads of its podcasts. Starting in June, Radio Disney will insert advertising into its weekly podcasts. Videogame manufacturer THQ has been among the first to sign on to the plan. (AdAge.com, March 17, 2006)

Meanwhile Disney Online, already profiting from the massively multiplayer Internet game for children Toontown, has begun a $50-a-year subscription service for preschoolers.Skip to next paragraph The new service, named Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online, combines Web features, larger download content and fast-playing games and TV-like animation. (New York Times, February 16, 2006)

Nor is Disney alone in its expansion into a multimedia empire fixated on conquering children's hearts and minds and controlling their buying habits. Microsoft, which has a 25% market share in the U.S., is desperately seeking new videogame players, as it has already saturated its core customer base of 18- to 34- year-olds. Microsoft plans to enter the children's gaming arena by linking with several other corporate giants.

Not to be outdone by Disney's planned video technology linkage with McDonald's, Microsoft and Burger King have formed a partnership to produce three new videogames featuring Burger King's grotesquely-masked "King" character. The first such game will be a "first-person shooter" game described as "a cross between Halo and Destroy All Humans." In addition to the murder videogame, the "King" will also feature in a martial-arts game imitative of the videogame Street Fighter and an auto-racing videogame. The games will be created by Microsoft for use with its Xbox system, and will be available at Burger King during a five-week promotional period in December. Burger King will sell the games for $3.99 with the purchase of a value meal, and expects to sell nearly 7 million of the games. The promotion marks the first time any major corporation has had a video game designed exclusively around its main advertising icon, and is merely the latest move in a marketing strategy aimed at teenagers. Burger King has already popularized racy Internet advertising, and the Burger King name is prominently integrated into the new Fox reality show Unan1mous through the use of a "have it your way" confessional-style booth.  Burger King also plans a special children's promotion to tie in with the musical-game TV series Dance Dance Revolution, which will feature dance music and games to be bought with meals. (AdAge.com, April 14, 2006)

Microsoft will also reap a bonanza of free exposure thanks to a new children's TV show. When its Xbox 360 game Viva Piñata begins sales during the Christmas 2006 season, an animated series also called Viva Piñata will already be airing on Fox. The show will air Saturday mornings during the Fox Network's 4Kids TV block.  Embedded in the program's story line will be hints and tips about how to play the game. Thirteen kinds of tie-in merchandise will be released shortly thereafter, with Viva Piñata toys, clothes and party favors being among the items which will be for sale. Other opportunities for advertising will be built into both the TV show and the game.

"Kids will have become invested in the game and characters before the game comes out…The future of our business is interactivity." -- Al Kahn, CEO, 4Kids Entertainment (AdAge.com, March 16, 2006)

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