Abstract
When examining the history of fairy tale iconography in advertising, folklore scholar Donald Haase’s fairy tale encyclopedia compared the Pied Piper of Hamelin to a symbol of advertising who could “play his pipe ever so sweetly and the consumers following him without resisting his charming and manipulative music.” In contrast, a 2012 episode of Mad Men, advertising luminary Don Draper shoots down a shoe commercial pitch featuring Cinderella, calling the idea “cliché”. The temptation for advertisers to rely on fairy tale figures and iconography continues today and many ignore Don’s aversion for cliché because it still gets the job done. However, there are some ads featuring fairy tales which avoid cliché and are truly innovative for their time. I’ll examine how, and for whom, these fairy tale figures have been adapted decade by decade in order to examine popular culture’s commercialized and hypnotic relationship with fairy tales in the most direct format available: television commercials.
Highlights
For as long as television has been around commercials and sponsorships have operated as the stealth lifeblood pumping cash and life into the medium
The idea of a folklore or fairy tale figure was repeated for this campaign, including other inelegant uses of mermaids, elves, and Cinderella. In her 1997 article “Fairy Tale Motifs in Advertising”, Patricia Baubeta attempts to answer the question of why advertisers so quickly turned to fairy tale iconography and why they continue to decade after
Amy Schumer, the realities of being a princess are explored: you have to marry a first cousin at age 14 to preserve the purity of the royal bloodline and are threatened with death if you can’t produce. In his 1979 book, “Breaking the Magic Spell”, Jack Zipes shared the story of Priscilla Denby, a a male heir
Summary
For as long as television has been around commercials and sponsorships have operated as the stealth lifeblood pumping cash and life into the medium. Our first brushes with heroes and villains, right and wrong, and the very concept of wonder often originate with fairy tales in one form or another It didn’t take long for advertisers to discover the tremendous relatability, love of, and staying power of fairy tales for the vast majority of the general public. Decade after decade advertisers have capitalized on this public awareness and love of fairy tales figures to sell us toothpaste, insurance, produce, and everything in between In this post-modern and increasingly media literate age, this reliance on fairy tale iconography in ads has not gone unnoticed by consumers and other creative professionals. You can probably think of, and even remember, similar on-the-nose uses of fairy tale figures yourself With ads getting both louder and shorter due to rapid many ignore Don Draper’s aversion for cliché.
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