This article is from WeChat official account:NetEase Upflow (ID: heyupflow), author: school blocking him, editors: peas, head Figure from: animated “Transformers”
The childhood of the post-90s generation grew up with these animated characters: Doraemon, who can come up with countless props, is always rescuing Athena’s Seiya, and Naruto who wants to find the second pillar, head Sakuragi Flower Road, who smashed backboards and fascinated countless girls, BGM, the invincible Agumon, Pikachu with a voltage of 100,000 volts…
But have you ever thought that our favorite cartoon in childhood is actually an advertisement for selling toys.
△Think about it?
1. Cartoons selling toys
In fact, many cartoons are born to sell toys. The most typical example is the famous “Transformers.”
In 1984, HasbroPassed a transformable robot toy under its banner and tested the waters to produce the “Transformers” animation.
△Optimus Prime: A rare big brother image in cartoons
At that time, Hasbro did not foresee the global influence of this cartoon in the future, and has always treated it as an advertisement for a long time.
When it was broadcast in China, Hasbro did not ask the TV station for a cent, but only required the TV station to accompany a one-and-a-half minute Transformers commercial when it aired the cartoon.
△Source: Guanzhong Afu “Reminiscence of a Fairy Tale”
However, what everyone did not expect was that the effects of the animated commercials of “Transformers” were extraordinary. The children were quickly attracted by the plot of the cartoon, and they competed to imitate the engine in the cartoon. As a result, sales of toys such as Tianzhu and Bumblebee have increased significantly.
How significant is it? According to Guanzhong Afu’s book “My Story of a Fairy Tale”, the Transformers sold out toys worth 50,000 yuan on the first afternoon when they landed in Guangzhou, and their monthly sales exceeded one million.
These are millions in the last century.You must know that in those years, the monthly salary of parents was only a few dozen yuan.
△The Transformers toy fever of the year also triggered a dispute over the suspension of broadcasting|Source: People’s Daily
Coincidentally, there are also four-wheel drive series animations that are also born for toys. For example, “Four-wheel drive kid”, “Four-wheel drive brothers”, “Dragon Four-wheel drive”, “Raising Speed”, these cartoons have a direct impact on the sales of four-wheel drive toys.
Only 25 episodes of “Four-wheel-drive Kid” focused on car models, detailed descriptions of how to modify four-wheel-drive vehicles, and the plot of four-wheel-drive competitions. These elements all made us eager to try when we were young.
△Real fans can recognize the car model at a glance
Children not only beg their parents to buy four-wheel drive toys, but also often spend a lot of money to buy modified four-wheel drive parts, such as Jaguar motors, sponge tires, spring faucets, aluminum alloy tails…
At the time, I was also the second soul blasting watch, and even spent “heavy money” to buy a boot hockey stick. Although this stick looks very stupid, parents don’t allow the upper class to run behind the four-wheel drive with the stick as in the cartoon. But I was very proud at the time, and felt that I had a stick in my hands.
△The guide hockey stick in “Four-wheel drive kid”
The electronic pet that you were obsessed with back then was actually an animation that only existed in the “peripheral”.
The original body of the “Digimon” series was an electronic pet toy sold by Japan Bandai Co., Ltd. in 1997, namely the Digimon Dragon machine.
Later, in order to promote this toy, Bandai and Toei produced the “Digimon” animation.