Why are Most Cartoons Marketed and Made Towards Kids?

Joined
Sep 4, 2017
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328
I am not complaining about this, but I am admittedly confused about this. I noticed that early on, a lot of cartoons included adults as part of their audience (Looney Tunes, The Flintstones, Tom and Jerry, etc.), but later down the road, cartoons were made for kids and only kids (Though there were ones that had adult appeal) until The Simpsons came out and there were more cartoons for adults after that. Even still, most cartoons seem to be ones aimed and marketed towards kids and seem to outweigh the adult cartoons in quanity. Why is it that? I feel like there should be cartoons aimed and marketed towards the whole family. Like I said, I am trying not to complain, I am just confused about this
 

SweetShop209

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Well, technically, the creators of most kids cartoons do try to aim for a general audience composed also of teenagers and adults, but network executives don't see it that way. They see a cartoon as one or the other, a kids cartoon or an adult cartoon, not anything in the middle.
 
Joined
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Well, technically, the creators of most kids cartoons do try to aim for a general audience composed also of teenagers and adults, but network executives don't see it that way. They see a cartoon as one or the other, a kids cartoon or an adult cartoon, not anything in the middle.

Yep, it never a total downside for creators in having their cartoons seen by more people I think. I think for the longest time, it was only really Walt Disney that truly understood the idea of all-inclusive cartoons and how they appeal to people of all ages: "I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether we be six or sixty." I think this kind of thought might be spreading around more as of late though.
 

RandomMe

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There are still some people around the world that believe that "cartoons are for kids". In Portugal, we have this weird scenario in which people over the age of 10 "oficially" stop watching cartoons and begin watching age-inappropriate live-action series.
 

Dudley

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Cartoons are aimed towards kids because they’re the audience most likely to watch it. There’s a general social stigma about older people watching cartoons and media companies are aware of audience fragmentation as they get older. Since animation is a very expensive and long process, targeting the audience most likely to watch them gets more bang for their buck. Plus they’ll buy a lot of toys, which is a huge source of revenue.

Also, when aiming for a general audience, it’s best to still keep things family friendly, this has always been the case for most animation, but demand for tighter censorship (as people’s taste in what’s deemed appropriate changes), kind of drove older people away.
 

danny lafontaine

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Jan 26, 2018
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im confused here lol not all cartoons are aimed at kids i know because i talked to some creators of some shows like MAD Tom ruegger Jon Dilworth a living member of the Flintstones tom benedict and finally somebody who worked on ren and stimpy bob camp
i asked the creator of MAD if he was targeting his show at teens and he told me his target aduience is 7-15 year olds
i asked Tom ruegger if Animaniacs if he made it for kids he said i made it to amuse myself
i asked Jon Dilworth if Courage was made for kids and he told me no i made it for myself
i was honored to chat with long living member of the Flintstones Tony Benedict he told me the shows the flintstones the jetsons and top cat were targeted for adults
and finally i talked to bob camp he told me they were inspired by the Looney tunes cartoons and that they dont make the show for kids and finally he told me that hes not a big fan of kids entertainment so not all cartoons are for kids even if you look back at some old creators of cartoons like Looney tunes
chuck jones said he never made kiddie entertainment
and i found a podcast online with Joseph barbera saying Tom and Jerry were not made for kids
he said they were just slapstick comedy made for the theaters late at night
also recently Lee Unkrich confirmed that they dont make the Pixar films for kids they just have to keep it appealing for kids
and Aardman has said that Morph Wallace and Gromit and Creature comforts were not made for kids and that Shaun was there first kids series also they said there not trying to dumb down the content to make a kids film so yeah some creators seem to target kids and teens and some just make it for themselves so not all cartoons are for kids theres lots that are and lots that are not
 

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