The article discusses the use of animated mascots in advertising, particularly in Russia. It mentions how marketers have long exploited people's love of cartoons to promote various products. The article highlights a few examples of Russian mascots, including Ivan Taranov, a cartoon brewer who promoted PIT beer, and Sam Samych, a giant live dumpling who advertised a brand of frozen dumplings. It also mentions other mascots, such as Delmi, a mysterious creature from a sandwich ad, and Moydodyr, a living washstand from a washing powder ad.
The article also discusses the Sapsan train mascot, which was created to address safety concerns around the high-speed train. However, instead of being educational, the mascot was used to mock critics and downplay the train's safety issues.
The article concludes that not all animated mascots are equally funny or effective, and some may even be used to distract from serious issues.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. Marketers use advertising cartoon characters to promote various products.
2. In the US and Europe, some recognizable mascots have been around for over 50 years.
3. In Japan, the creation of advertising cartoon characters has become a cult over the past 10 years.
4. The Russian ad market has originated relatively recently, and domestic marketers have tried to create mascots, mainly for products aimed at children.
5. PIT beer used animated ads in the early 2000s, which featured a character named Ivan Taranov, a brewer and pilot.
6. Ivan Taranov's ads were unusual for the time, as no other beer brand used drawn characters.
7. The use of cartoon characters in beer ads is considered unethical, as it may attract children to the brand.
8. Suntory beer from Japan used colorful penguins in their ads in the 80s.
9. The penguins became popular and eventually separated from the beer brand, living their own lives.
10. Rocketbank has a pink oblong cat mascot with a bow tie, known as "cat's prick".
11. The cat mascot was introduced in 2013 and has become a recognizable symbol of the brand.
12. Sam Samych is a mascot for a brand of frozen dumplings, depicted as a giant live dumpling.
13. The mascot was created to appeal to housewives and promote the product.
14. Beseda is a brand of tea that used a brownie character in their ads to solve problems and promote relaxation.
15. Moydodyr is a character from a Russian washing powder brand, "Myth", which was created by Korney Chukovsky.
16. The company "Procter&Gamble" paid the granddaughter of Korney Chukovsky 15 thousand dollars annually for 10 years for the use of the image.
17. Sapsan is a high-speed train that has its own mascot, a live train character.
18. The Sapsan train faced problems with people throwing stones and shooting at it, and the cartoons were created to address these issues.
19. The Sapsan train has been involved in accidents, resulting in human casualties, mainly due to pedestrians crossing the tracks in the wrong places.
20. Russian Railways released a cartoon in response to criticism, which was seen as insensitive and dismissive of the victims' families.