Children are simple creatures – provide them with some adorable icon, a catchy theme, and a call to action, and you will sell them (really, their parents) whatever knick-knack you have prepared. The champion of this game, or market, I should say, is Pokemon™. As the highest-grossing media franchise of all time, it has mastered its art to the extent of internationally outperforming some of our more well-known and domestic franchises, such as Star Wars™, Spider Man™, and the rodent of Disney™ himself.
The Pokemon Company™ and Nintendo™ have ostensibly found such success by following the strategy above to persuade children to buy into this market-amalgamation of films, toys, plushies, cards, games, comic books, and so much more merchandise. However, the key to the success of this marketing strategy is how it masterfully plays into the rhetorical situation in front of the television set every Saturday morning.
For those uninitiated, the world of Pokemon is one of mystical monsters with extraordinary powers that can be befriended and trained to do many things throughout society – though mainly combat-sports in much of the franchise’s merchandise. Your job as the player (or spectator of the TV show’s protagonist) is to help a scientific professor compile a catalog of every species of Pokemon; your job is to “catch ‘em all!”
This marketing powerhouse artificially constructed commonplaces in the minds of children worldwide by ingraining slogans such as “gotta catch ‘em all,” “I wanna be the very best,” and “I wanna be a Pokemon Master” in the minds of children through the aforementioned catchy tunes and entertaining programming. As a result, children, the audience, grow to recognize these soundbites and associate them with happy memories of cheering on Ash Ketchum during another skirmish between him and Team Rocket.
Please recall how I previously referred to a “rhetorical situation in front of the television set.” I ask you to consider the perspective of the spectating child. While watching, that child is likely becoming invested in the characters, journeys, and goals of the characters depicted on the screen to the extent that, if he or she were invited to help or take part in said task of “catch[ing] ‘em all,” he or she would likely jump at the opportunity. The commonplaces created for and presented to the child act as a strategic use of language that invokes a desire to go “be a Pokemon Master,” thereby inspiring children to plead with their parents to buy into this franchise. This feels like downright child abuse, but gosh darn do I love myself a good episode of Pokemon.
(Passion Blog #1)
I am not a Pokémon afficionado and do not know much about the franchise. But I like how you talk about the environment/situation it sets up in terms of things we’ve learned from CAS (rhetorical situation, commonplaces, etc.). I’d never thought about it like that before, so I thought your analysis was insightful.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this blog post. I found myself laughing out loud a bit throughout. Your style of writing is very entertaining and it is easy to see your personality coming through. On top of that, your rhetorical analysis was incredibly detailed and well-thought out. I don’t know if I would go so far as to compare the persuading of children to buy into the franchise to downright child abuse. It’s more of a strategic marketing and persuasion strategy, but I understood what you meant. I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts in the future.
Hi James,
I really enjoyed reading this. From time to time, I always go back and rewatch my favorite Pokemon episodes. I wish I had not given away my Nintendo, otherwise, I would check back all of my saved Pokemon files. It is a shame that Pokemon is not as popular these days, as kids would enjoy it just as much. On a final note, the theme song is one that I still know to this day. Great blog!
I really enjoyed reading your blog. As a Pokémon player myself I remember how entrapped I was in the franchise. At one point in time, it really was my life. I find your blog about how they were able to get me and millions of other kids around the world to buy into this game for decades. I think that your analysis is very well written and I can tell you’ve given much thought to this.
Wow! I loved reading your blog. Keep up the great work!