Peppa Pig steams ahead of Thomas the Tank Engine
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Children’s character Peppa Pig has overtaken Thomas The Tank Engine as the highest-selling pre-school toy with retail sales of more than £200m.
The rights to license and merchandise Peppa Pig are owned by entertainment group Entertainment One (E1).
The British animated cartoon character generated retail sales of £150m in 2009. The company says that the continued growth of the sale of Peppa Pig toys last year has led to the character taking the top spot from Thomas.
E1 has licensed the character for dozens of lines, including toys, jigsaws, books, DVDs and clothing.
The first TV series of Peppa Pig debuted on Five in 2004.
The character had been used to promote the Labour government’s Sure Start programme. However, in the run up to the general election last year E1 decided not to allow Peppa Pig to attend the launch of Labour’s manifesto for families.
Look out for Marketing Week’s Brand Licensing feature in this week’s (27 January cover date) issue.
Readers' comments (2)
Chris Arnold | Tue, 25 Jan 2011 3:57 pm
Of all the articles I could have read today this one caught my eye. What does that say? Maybe we need more fun in marketing?
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Anonymous | Thu, 27 Jan 2011 9:10 am
Saw this on BBC news today and I have a comment re "...so innocently simple..." Peppa Pig. Apparently it portrays "...real family life...", but I must say that in pretty much all of the episodes I have ever seen, Daddy Pig is portrayed as a silly, clumsy man who doesn't really seem to have a clue what's going on and Mummy Pig always seems to be the sensible 'save-the-day' hero. "That's just what my family is like!" I hear many of you out there cry - well maybe there is a reason for this. Men are now allowing themselves to become lazy, uninterested, clumsy husbands and fathers due to the feminism-gone-wrong of the 60's to date, because women are becoming too bolshy and are losing their femininity (which has an inherent strength in itself if only we could trust it). You'd think I was a man, but I am not. You may think that I am anti-feminist, but I am not. I am just sickened that the suffragettes gave their all in order for us to be quibbling about who does the washing-up, how they would turn in their graves! The 'swinging 60's' has a lot to answer for...... So go ahead Peppa Pig, I hope you go from strength to strength, but spare a thought for the subtle, but all too one-sided representation you portray of 'family life' to these young, impressionable, innocent children who watch you.
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