This is a discussion on Should the WWE market towards kids? within the WWE Discussion forums, part of the Wrestling Forums category; Well, it's quite obvious that within the last few years, kids have been the target market for the WWE. The ...
Welcome to Wrestling Clique Wrestling Forums
Hello and Welcome to WrestlingClique - Wrestling Forums!
We are the premier wrestling forum and your source for wrestling news and rumors, wrestling divas, wrestling gifs, sports discussion, e-feds, writing and more. Wrestling fans participate in active discussion on all the major wrestling leagues and events including WWE, ECW & TNA pay per view events, live wrestling streams, wrestling video games, collectibles, and other wrestling related products and services.
You're currently viewing our site as an unregistered guest which means you are limited to most discussions and features.
Take a few minutes to browse around, and if you like what you see, Register a free account to gain access to :
• Richer content, access forums that are not viewable by the public.
• Complete access to post topics, respond to polls, communicate privately (PM), take part contests, arcade, photo sharing, networking, groups.
• Create your personal profile and bio
• Meet and Chat Live with other members who share similar interests
Registration is simple and fast. Won't take you more than a minute and of course it's completely free.
So Join our Community today!
Well, it's quite obvious that within the last few years, kids have been the target market for the WWE. The program has changed a lot since the Attitude Era, and the WWE has tried to be more family friendly. Ratings haven't been as good as they used to, but DVD and PPV buys are still pretty high.
Do you think it is a smart move to market towards the kids?
The main reason for marketing towards kid is that they are the future of the business. If we can get kids to like the show, then they will continue to watch in the future. But what about when they grow up and get sick of it, because it's boring to them?
I really am torn between both sides, because I can see the positives of doing it, but then I can see the negatives. I mean, the ratings have dropped a lot, and that is because old fans of the WWE are just getting sick of it.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
The Hurricane, believe it or not, is a great example to answer this question.
He was a superhero! He gave the little kids someone in the company to look up to and everything he said and did was positive. He was also extremely fun to watch in the ring which helped get the older generation to at least watch his matches. He was placed in funny situations like his mini feud with the Rock and he got involved in the angle with Rosey as a Super Hero in training. That was mildy humorous, and it became extremely humorous when Golddust pointed out that Rosey was SHIT. Everyone can enjoy a good laugh now and then, but the things that drove the Hurricane was that he was a positive character for the younger generation, he was placed in humorous angles with other wrestlers which everyone enjoyed, and he put on watchable matches which is something the older generation enjoys.
When Hurricane turned heel, it was like Peter Parker giving up Spiderman and going into business for himself. Helms crushed the little kids hero, and got the older fans approval because who doesn't like a good heel!? The little kids began to boo Helms, but Matt Hardy stepped up as the new superhero of sorts to take on Helms, and the two of them put on great matches that everyone enjoyed. The stroyline while not being the best in history was very compelling from the hero gone bad point of view.
WWE needs balance and to me that was the perfect balance. Today, the storylines are, for the most part, dull as hell, the characters have no depth, and the matches feel same because wrestlers are being pushed slower than a dead corpse decomposes. Not everything has to be the greatest most epic thing on television, but from top to bottom the card is supposed to feel fresh. Right now it all feels like a replay.
The WWE has always marketed their product to children since Vince took over (Yes, even in the attitude era). The main reason being is who do you think spends the most money on the WWE? It's not single men, it's children. Children has zero (or very few) expenses, so when they get money, they're able to spend all of it. Then you have holidays and birthdays that are pretty much days for children. Christmas especially is a day for kids, not adults. So you have all these parents buying all this shit (clothes, toys, other stuff) that mainly only kids would want. As adults, how much merchandise do you own? Sure some videos and a shirt or two, but that's it.
The real money is in kids. Just ask the movie industry why they try to make a movie PG-13 instead of R.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Will it succeed? No. With wrestlings reputation, parents will keep children away from any wrestling program. Topple on the extremes of the Divas scandalous clothing and they have no chance of enticing the children's market. The children can "want" whatever they want but they are also guided by their parents. When their parents don't want them into something; they turn their kids attentions to something else. The only possible way they could intrigue the children's demographic is by bringing in an extremely soft product and that'd turn away older fans and the parents STILL wouldn't allow their kids to watch the E, in all likelihood.
Will it succeed? No. With wrestlings reputation, parents will keep children away from any wrestling program. Topple on the extremes of the Divas scandalous clothing and they have no chance of enticing the children's market. The children can "want" whatever they want but they are also guided by their parents. When their parents don't want them into something; they turn their kids attentions to something else. The only possible way they could intrigue the children's demographic is by bringing in an extremely soft product and that'd turn away older fans and the parents STILL wouldn't allow their kids to watch the E, in all likelihood.
Since when has a reputation stopped kids from watching? If anything, the reputation will make more kids watch it. South Park is a great example of something with a reputation, but is still popular with kids. I started watching SP Christmas of 1997. In late 1997, I would of been 12. Within a few months, South Park became insanely popular. Although the targeted demographic was higher, I still saw plenty of people my age with T's and who talked about it.
At the same time, pro wrestling was a current fad. Even though you had women like Sable wearing paint as a bikini top, there were always a lot of kids at the arenas. You still had toys, toy belts, and other shit made.
Unless something has changed with kids since I was younger, they're going to watch whatever they want.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I really think people are taking this whole 'advertising for kids' the complete wrong way. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this, but before every WWE show whether it be Raw, Smackdown!, ECW or a PPV, it says TV14, obviously meaning 14 year old people and older should watch it, not younger.
I really think people are taking this whole 'advertising for kids' the complete wrong way. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this, but before every WWE show whether it be Raw, Smackdown!, ECW or a PPV, it says TV14, obviously meaning 14 year old people and older should watch it, not younger.
And yet they make toys for a company that is for people who by 14 have pretty much given up playing with figures.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I really think people are taking this whole 'advertising for kids' the complete wrong way. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this, but before every WWE show whether it be Raw, Smackdown!, ECW or a PPV, it says TV14, obviously meaning 14 year old people and older should watch it, not younger.
Thats just a legal formality, thats the network's doing, not the wwe's. If wwe had the choice in to have the message or not, theres no way in hell they would have it.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Basically as Jim said, kids are going to watch anyway. If anything, it makes them more likely to watch if it is aimed at an older demographic. They certainly shouldn't be aiming their product at children, because children will watch it anyway. They should be aiming their product at a more mature audience with more edgy angles etc, because that is how you make money.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Linear Mode
