Why Is It We Can Rescue a Minion but Not Save Face?

Whether it’s to the specific credit of the writers or the directors of Despicable Me, I’d like to extend my personal appreciation to all of them for saving the word minion. What Group 243 couldn’t really do for Domino’s Pizza and the Noid, this movie will do, I hope, for the rising generation of youngsters: offer them an excellent epithet.

Let’s review. Here’s a pointed English word (even if it comes from French) that means a servile or fawning dependant, a cringing agent – mainly of evil. It’s quite different than henchman, you know. Any Chicago politician can have henchmen. Being a minion demands somewhat more class.

Not to put too fine a point on it, minion started out meaning, “a beloved object, darling.” This was about 500 years ago. It didn’t take more than a couple of centuries, however, before Jonathan Swift was writing, “I had no Occasion of bribing, flattering, or pimping, to procure the Favour of any great Man, or of his Minion” (1726). You know, once Swift starts stabbing, there’s no turn back to the side of light; minion as “creature” is where we’re at today.

Nevertheless, the word will come back into everyday use – I believe this after seeing a photo of a costumed minion (from the movie, you understand) on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

I bring this whole thing up because a certain well-known social network intends to get a registered trademark on a largely innocent four-letter word soon – unless that WKSN is stopped by public outrage. Which seems to be in rather short supply at the moment. On this particular issue.

Can someone from the movie industry please step forward and assist?

The animated movie trailer notes, “To take over the world, you need an army of ruthless, menacing minions.” To save a great word, it takes a Hollywood studio.

At the End of World Cup 2010, the Most Memorable Brand Image...

Presuming that you haven't been staying in South Africa for the past several weeks, what will the world (and you) remember as the brand-mark of this great World Cup series? The FIFA-copyrighted “Zakumi?” Or the amazing, colorful, noisy vuvuzela?

When it comes to judgment calls, you won't find me blowing my own horn. (But let's hear it for the loud voice of the masses, eh?)

Go, Otters!

Thirty years ago, a US president was attacked by a swamp rabbit. After three decades, I can understand that this famous-at-the-time Jimmy Carter incident wouldn’t be top of mind. It did float to the top of mine, though, because of another news item making its way round the Worldwide Web right now.

“Woman says she was bitten repeated by otters” – that’s been the usual headline. Why this story, about an Austrian vacationer (Brigitte France) gnawed on by two, possibly three otters while swimming in a Wisconsin lake, is news is beyond me.

Still, I couldn’t resist Googling “Otters, advertising.” The first thing that came up was the Erie Otters. Unbelievable, really. In Houston, I suddenly remember there’s an American Hockey League team called the Aeros. Despite winning seasons, I scarcely think of it.

Now there’s this logo – this thing – staring me in the face. It’s the “primary logo” of the Erie Otters of Erie, PA, in use since 1997. This is the team (brand) mascot, Shooter.

Shooter the Otter is supposed to be wearing a “home jersey,” though the animal looks topless to me. (Really, how would I know? I can barely recall going to a Minnesota North Stars game or two when I lived in Minneapolis.) The team is now in its 13th season – it was founded in ’96 and is part of the Ontario Hockey League.

This otter’s not alone in the OHL. There’re Greyhounds (Sault Ste Marie) and Wolves (Sudbury), IceDogs (Niagara) and Bulls (Belleville). The Ontario Hockey League features 20 teams, but the Otters, Plymouth Whalers and Saginaw Spirit are the only League members based in the United States. The Otters play the IceDogs at Tullio Arena on August 29th, BTW.

Like most sports franchises today (including hockey), the Otters have a fine marketing engine – at least it looks comprehensive from this distance. Aggressive branding. Involving website that includes programs for fans of all ages, plenty of news, statistics and shopping. Facebook pages for loyal fans...and the franchise actively Twitters. Shooter’s team is wrapping its stakeholders up in a great big otter hug and, with a premium single-game ticket costing just $14.50, it’s way more affordable than big-market teams can deliver. I’m certain Shooter will be optioned by Disney soon.

Meanwhile, there’s a marketing opportunity for Shooter’s franchise: Make certain that the Austrian woman and her husband spend their next US holiday in Erie, PA, as a guest of the team. Go, Otters!

Wood’s Rebuke

I don’t know Bertha Jean Wood of Katy, TX. I’m gonna talk about her, though. First, note what Don Markstein says on his excellent ToonpediaTM website: “There was a time when Americans thought it was okay to poke fun at people about their cultural heritage.”

All too often, this habit took the form of mascots for very well-known brands. Markstein calls them commercial spokestoons.

The clichéd Frito Bandito© brand mascot was created for Fritos Corn Chips in 1967 by ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding. The character, animated by the genuinely famous Tex Avery, lasted about five years. Then in ’71, pressure by Mexican-American groups, accusing Frito-Lay and FCB of playing up racial stereotypes, forced the Bandito into permanent retirement.

Thirty-plus years later, the shoe is on some other foot. Or is it possible you’ve been asleep while the latest Wal-Mart kerfluffle’s been going on in Houston? It’s about the “much beloved” Mexican cultural icon, Memín Pinguín – again.

There’s so many blog posts, so much information on this flap, you can Google it all for yourself. What you do need to know is that Mexico’s past president, Vicente Fox, said back in 2005 that he didn't understand what all the fuss was about over Memín Pinguín. He insisted that Memín’s image was not racist, but a beloved character embraced by all Mexicans.

Out of the smoke of the cultural battlefield comes Ms Wood’s letter to the Houston Chronicle (Saturday, July 12, 2008, page B6). It would be a succinct 44 words if she didn’t have to refer to the paper’s overlong headline. She wrote:

I am glad to read that former Mexican President Vicente Fox sees nothing offensive about the Memín Pinguín character. (Please see “Comic draws charges of racism/Customers ask Wal-Mart stores to remove book,” City and State cover, Tuesday.) The right to free speech should never be compromised. Since we all agree on that, can we have Speedy Gonzalez and the Frito Bandito back? Please?

Thank you, Ms Wood. I hope and expect that you will extend that same incisive judgment to cultural stereotypes, whether they’re good or bad.

When is it time to put aside some beloved icon? Maybe it’s when your stakeholders transform themselves. Or when you’re no longer selling in “your” market. Trick is, discovering when that time comes before everything blows up in your face.

PS: Review some familiar brand mascot makeovers here.