The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies

Character Licensing

CYNTHIA MAURER

Rutgers University, USA

DOI: 10.1002/9781118989463.wbeccs038

Character licensing is the use of fictional characters to sell merchandise through one or more manufacturers, whereby the manufacturing company purchases the license for the character to produce various products. Most often linked to children's goods and media, licensed characters often come from popular culture and appeal to both children and adults, thus reaching a wide consumer audience.

In traditional character licensing, companies sought a license to use a property – that is, an image, story, or likeness – which had enjoyed prior success as character in a comic, movie, or television show (Engelhardt 1986). Character holders thought it smart to receive free advertising in exchange for the rights to their character and often did not charge for the use of their characters (Schneider 1987). The most successful traditional character licensing took place in 1977 when Kenner Toys bought the exclusive worldwide toys and games rights for the Star Wars movies. Initially, movies were profitably inconsistent in regard to character licensing, and manufacturers became hesitant to invest in movies (Schneider 1987). Kenner Toys' investment to license various characters from the first Star Wars movie, as well as the sequels, proved one of the more profitable character licensing endeavors.

Strategies for licensing changed in the 1980s. A company called Those Characters from Cleveland created a new ...