Movie Merchandise: Is It Targeted More Towards Men?

Movie Merchandise

Movie Merchandise• Movie merc, promotional

merchandise, promotional items and products, also nicknamed as sway or schwag are used to help market big blockbuster films. Almost anything can be branded and made into promotional merchandise using imagery and branding from an action-packed blockbuster film. This is one of the reasons as to why movie merchandise is still a growing industry.

• Film merchandise is known to generate revenue streams that bring in a lot of money even after a film has been released. Merchandise has over the years really helped the bigger blockbuster films get better known, grow in promotion and drive more revenue.

• The film industry grosses billions a year in box office sales with millions more being made through the promotional items. The bigger blockbuster films are more prone to yielding significant returns for Production Company's with some movie franchises predicted to get even larger merchandise sales as more prequels and sequels are being released for popular films.

• The action adventure genre blockbusters are those likely to make more of a return on merchandise sales as they have a higher demand for merchandise rather than other genres such as comedies and romantic films.

Is Merchandise More Aimed At A Male Audience?

• We have all seen the many merchandise products online for sale, though has anyone noticed how film merchandise products tend to be targeted towards men rather than women?

• Films with action heroes are more likely to have merchandising produced about and around them. These are such novelty figures like Batman, James Bond, Indiana Jones and Spiderman who are all a major hit with the male audience. Could the characters have an effect on the merchandise that gets made? It is not very likely you see merchandise for a romantic comedy aimed at women is it?

• If we take a look into the merchandise as products, we can see that they are mainly related to a male audience. Merchandise comes in the form of Key rings, USB sticks, mugs, T-shirts, accessories, comic books, figurines, plush teddies and models, though are these as products in themselves more orientated towards the male population that men are more likely to want rather than the women?

Current Films in the Media Using Product Placement & Merchandise:

• The recent James Bond franchise was paid $45 million to have the Heineken brand incorporated into the film and an advert made using Daniel Craig. Product placement within a film is another area where advertising specific products come in. You could almost argue that product placement such as this is a type of merchandise. When someone sees the Heineken beer, they will automatically think of the James Bond movie and are more likely to drink it.

New Films with Merchandise:• Even today, new releases such as the film "Ted" 2012 use

elements of a film to create merchandise to fit in with the promotion of a film. The film "Ted" is about a talking bear being a best friend of its owner. This film created high demand for a talking bear, and out came an opportunity for a merchandise bear of a Ted movie plush merchandise talking bear to be made.

Movie Merchandise as Gifts• Although there is a lot of interest in films and

the merchandise to go with it, it is unlikely for someone to buy themselves a gadget or a piece of merchandise for themselves. Today you are more likely to find movie merchandise as great gifts for men as they are more likely to be items that people will not necessarily buy for themselves, but will really love if you know of a great film they like.

The Best Selling Merchandise Films:• Regardless of the age of some films, whether they

are two years old or fifty years old, there are some films such as James Bond, Star Wars and the Indiana Jones squeals that always make a comeback with the younger generations. Thirty five years on and the Star Wars movie merchandise is still being made and bought. There are not many souls on the earth today that haven't seen at least one Star Wars film.

• There are films that have held a big impression on the majority of generations over the last 40 years. These have become films that the younger generations are interested in even if they were made 35 years ago. These old classics can be enjoyed over and over again due to the development of new technology. There have been many films that have been digitally re-mastered to improve the quality of some of the older films. This has helped with generating interest again within major films such as Star Wars.

Highest Grossing Blockbuster Films with Merchandising

• 1. Lord of the Rings• 2. James Bond• 3. Star Wars• 4. Marvel Films• 5. Batman• 6. X-men• 7. Spiderman• 8. The Hunger Games• 9. Star Trek• 10. The Terminator• 11. The Transformers• 12. Harry Potter

Star Wars Merchandise:• The Star Wars films came out in box office, making over

$12,000,000,000 in merchandise sales. With a huge fan base for Star Wars even today, you can go out and buy Star Wars gadgets merchandise in stores.

James Bond Merchandise:• The James Bond films are full of spy gadgets and products

that are big boy's toys. Merchandise for the James Bond films varies between the branded gadgets and gadgets that have product placement within films. As James Bond uses a lot of spy gadgets, again James Bond merchandise is more aimed towards a male audience. The idea of having cool gadgets like James Bond gives men the ability to feel invincible and be like their favourite film character. It is unlikely that a woman should want to possess the same gadgets.

Marvel Merchandise:• Super hero films are another huge

area that thrives within the merchandise industry and movie promotion. What person doesn't want to have a super power? Spider-man continues to be a success within the merchandise industry along with other well-known marvel characters such as the incredible Hulk and the X-Men characters. Again these action packed heroes are aimed towards the male audience confirming that the majority of the bigger blockbuster films are in fact targeted towards men.

Conclusion:• Although there are some merchandise items that women will

buy, the majority of products are targeted towards the male audience. Is this however down to the genre of the movies being action adventure films? If you look at the top contenders for movie merchandise and franchise you will notice that the genre is mostly action packed films that are targeted towards the male audience.

• Well lets be honest, women buy clothes and makeup and don't really go to see action packed movies as much as men. So most movie fans are men and in return, the men are those that will buy more movie related merchandise.

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