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Western professor examines the consumerism behind cartoons
Western News, December 2, 2022
By Crystal Mackay
Most people don’t realize the cartoons they grew up with – My Little Pony, G.I. Joe and Paw Patrol – were actually designed with one purpose: To sell toys.
Faculty of Information and Media Studies professor Selma Purac studies the children’s marketplace, youth consumer culture and children’s advertising, and recently sat down with legendary Looney Tunes voice actor Eric Bauza to talk about the influence of cartoons on our lives as part of a new CBC Gem series called Stay Tooned.
The six-part series takes a deep dive through television cartoons to see how they shaped society and to help us understand the social and political worlds we live in.
Purac lends her expertise on episode two of the series alongside Canadian comedian Russell Peters and animator Lauren Faust. The episode explores how consumerism in cartoons shaped our childhoods (continue reading).
