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Written & visual essay · Design Cultures

Mascot is the Message

Exploring the role of mascots in shaping tobacco brand perception

Timeline
June 2024
Discipline
Design writing
Mascots is the Message — title page: Exploring the Role of Mascots in Shaping Tobacco Brand Perception. Written essay. Introduction, beside Banksy's Shoeshine showing a man polishing a Ronald McDonald statue's shoe (Figure 1). Expanding theory on McLuhan's medium is the message, beside the '…the massage?' spread from The Medium is the Massage (Figure 2). Case study: Joe Camel, with the 1989 'Smooth Character' Joe Camel poster (Figure 3) and the JAMA brand-recognition study. Joe Camel findings and the start of the Marlboro Man case study, with cut-out figures of Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man (Figures 4 and 5). Marlboro Man analysis beside an original Marlboro Man poster with Bob Norris (Figure 6). Conclusion: Mascots is the Message, over McLuhan's 'global village' spread from The Medium is the Massage (Figure 7). Visual essay title page: Mascots is the Message. 'It is More Than Brands' — BMW, Louis Vuitton and Uniqlo logo grids paired with their brand-value words (Figures 8 to 10). 'Mascot Covers' — Steve McCurry's Afghan Girl with a Joe Camel poster cropped across her eyes (Figures 11 and 12). 'Mascot Works' — a Marlboro Man poster overlaid on a photo of a man smoking a Marlboro Lights cigarette (Figures 13 and 14). 'Mascot Hides' — a Joe Camel billboard layered over clinical images of smoking harms: periodontal disease, lip cancer and antiphospholipid syndrome (Figures 15 to 18). Bibliography title page: Mascots is the Message. List of literal references and list of figures, part one. List of literal references and list of figures, part two. Remaining figure references and a closing acknowledgement: The End.