When I first read this week’s brief my mind immediately went to our biggest recent national news story - the Papal visit in Canada. But after pulling some headlines and accompanying images from different outlets, I stopped in my tracks. I’m not sure what learning outcome I would get out of this. I could skip directly to the end point and nothing will have surprised me. So - I pivoted. It’s time for a bit of joy and lightness instead.
How branding adapts to location and audience
When considering a new topic to research for this workshop challenge, I understood that I needed to find a branding and marketing icon that was at once ubiquitous and diverse — they had to be big enough for there to be plenty of material to dig into, while also providing uniques vectors of consumption, depending on where it was being marketed.
I chose Snoopy, of Peanuts fame, as he’s a character that has broad, universal appeal but is also approached in very different ways, depending on where in the world you encounter him. He (along with his friend Woodstock) is the breakout star of Peanuts, becoming an icon independent of the Peanuts gang.
That, I just think he’s neat.
Joe Cool
“’For a while, I received a couple of letters from somebody that said, ‘Don’t use the dog so much. Get back to the little kids.’ I never pay attention to letters like that.”
-Charles Schultz in conversation with Rick Marshall for NEMO: The Classic Comics Library, January 1992 (from The Complete Peanuts: Volume 1).
First appearing in the third Peanuts daily comic strip in 1950, Charlie Brown’s beagle Snoopy has undergone an apotheosis matched by only a select few — like his fellow funny animal luminaries Mickey, Garfield and Hello Kitty, Snoopy is an international icon, transcending borders and language. But where does this universal appeal come from, and how does it vary in different parts of the world? In this discussion, we will be looking at Snoopy’s appeal, and the difference between how he is marketed in Japan and the majority English-speaking countries as represented by the United Kingdom, England and Canada.
What is the appeal of Snoopy? What is it that makes this cartoon dog so universally beloved? In a large part this popularity is owed to Snoopy’s simplicity. Outside of his comic-strip thought bubbles, he doesn’t speak- which means that he can cross any language barrier. In addition, in a more philosophical sense, this marks him as a character that is particularly “safe”— he doesn’t speak, and therefore can never say the wrong thing, unlike other more vocal and controversial characters with a similar global reach like Bart Simpson.
In addition, his design is utterly artful in its simplicity — a black and white dog, depicted in a few spare, rough-textured lines, easy enough for any child to draw while at the same time sophisticated enough to convey enormous emotion with the slightest quirk of an eyebrow, pupil, or facial expressions. Snoopy’s design has withstood the test of time, in that he is as charming today as he was in his introduction, and represents an almost Steve McQueen-esque timeless cool — unlike the shuddering “cringe” that accompanies other more modern children’s characters such as the Minions like a psychic stink.
All of which is to say: Snoopy is big business, one of the most marketed characters in history. What is interesting, however, is how that marketing is pursued. In Japan, Snoopy merchandise is handled by the merchandising juggernaut Sanrio, of Hello Kitty fame, as well as an enormous stable of lesser characters, from the second-tier characters Keroppy and Badtz-Maru to the odd and obscure like the crocodile Big Challenges and the good-times elephant ALFREDALOHA. There, Snoopy is marketed with the same gusto we’d come to expect from Sanrio — he’s not merely a character, but a lifestyle on the level we in the West could only compare to Disney’s overwhelming market dominance.
In Japan, there exist Snoopy theme parks, Snoopy cafes, Snoopy hotels, museums, even tea shops. Snoopy, in Sanrio’s hands, goes beyond the realm of mere merchandise and into the very fabric of popular culture and commerce.
But where is that enthusiasm in Snoopy’s home, America (and by extension the rest of the English-speaking, American pop-culture fed world)? One could argue that Snoopy’s reach in Japan is impossible in the West — as that is simply not how things are done here. Even Disney, the undisputed king of children’s corporate media, doesn’t have the kind of grasp on English-speaking pop culture and its enmeshment with the rest of society that is considered ordinary business in Japan. Instead, Snoopy functions as an activation, rather than a lifestyle.
Here, Snoopy’s merchandising is less monolithic but instead more diversified in its reach. One can expect Snoopy Hallmark cards in the nearest pharmacy, but his reach extends from high street retailers like Zara, H&M and Gap to some of the more rarefied luxury brands such as Coach and even an extended collaboration with watchmaker Omega. Even NASA is involved, with their ”Silver Snoopy Award”. Regardless of scale or product, Snoopy’s universality allows him to fit in seamlessly
Looking at the differences between how Snoopy is marketed and used in Japan and the English-speaking world present interesting contrasts. Japan is often seen as a semi-sealed system, generating its own entertainment and methods of doing things, we see the opposite in the English-speaking world — popular culture being exchanged at a furious rate, leading to a certain amount of homogenization between these cultures.
Regardless of these differences, however, we can all agree — Schultz made the right choice, ignoring those letters.
Snoopy theme park and museum in Tokyo, a look from a 2016 Gucci fashion show, and Snoopy in a 2021 collection from Danish label Soulland.
Imada, K., 2022. 7 best snoopy attractions in Japan. Time Out Tokyo. Available at: https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/things-to-do/best-snoopy-attractions-in-japan [Accessed August 21, 2022].
Litterst, R., 2022. You’re a fashion icon, Charlie Brown. The Hustle. Available at: https://thehustle.co/02172022-charlie-brown-fashion/ [Accessed August 21, 2022].
Mars, K., 2015. Silver snoopy award. NASA. Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/sfa/aac/silver-snoopy-award [Accessed August 21, 2022].
Satran, R., 2022. Selling snoopy: How peanuts fashion became big business. The Wall Street Journal. Available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/snoopy-peanuts-fashion-became-big-business-11644869170 [Accessed August 21, 2022].
Schulz, C.M. & Keillor, G., 2007. The complete peanuts, Edinburgh: Canongate books.
Watterson, B., 2007. The grief that made ‘peanuts’ good. The Wall Street Journal. Available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119214690326956694 [Accessed August 21, 2022].
Lecture and Readings
Ah, semiotics, symbolism and Barthes, a familiar feeling of frustration washes over me, and takes me right back to my undergrad..
The theory and symbolism behind a message, key points and thoughts:
Message sent does not necessarily mean message received.
It was interesting to consider how message is understood, vs the original intent.
I do struggle with thinking conceptually when exploring these ideas, and tend to look for examples. Signs consist of a signifier (a word, an image, a sound, and so on) and its meaning – the signified. I found a basic image that helped me understand this relationship, but honestly, Barthes just isn’t my kinda guy.
As you can see in the diagram, the second-order signification — the sign itself being used as a signifier, which adds a second layer of meaning — is what Barthes calls a myth.
For parts 2 & 3 of the lectures, and the reading of Heller’s Design Literacy and found a lot of interesting perspectives on symbolism, message, and being referential in your output. I’m still mulling on all the examples brought up in the olympic designs.
