Disney XD: A Case Study on Packaging Boyhood

From Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth

Nov. 3, 2009 In diving into media messages targeting boys for my weekly Tuesday Packaging Boyhood posts, my mind snap went to ‘gaming’ pronto.

Is this a stereotype? Or did I just do a Malcolm Gladwell style “Blink” in rapid cognition? I flipped to the Packaging Boyhood chapter on “What Boys Do” since we know marketers are tapping a boy’s desire to be ‘powerful’ and admired by others for their image as same, which plays right into gaming. Sure enough, along with tackling topics like sports, speed,  winning, guys-n-guns, beer-n-babes, heroes, “tough guise” and porn, they shared:

“Boys told us they love games where they can perform like rock stars, jump or kick like sports stars, fight like warriors, or kill enemies with some of the most impressive weapons of modern combat. By playing video games, a boy can become a hero; he can turn the tide of battle or make the right decision to change the world,” wrote  authors Lyn Mikel Brown, Mark Tappan and Sharon Lamb.

Yep. Sounds pretty dang motivating. Who wouldn’t want to have control of their own destiny? Sure beats dressing up to please and serve with all the pink think video game gender cues…(more…)