Author-as-franchise-product: Edgar rice burroughs inc and tarzan as historical branded entertainment

Freeman, M. (2015) Author-as-franchise-product: Edgar rice burroughs inc and tarzan as historical branded entertainment. In: Engaging Consumers through Branded Entertainment and Convergent Media. IGI Global, pp. 53-73. ISBN 9781466683433 (ISBN); 1466683422 (ISBN); 9781466683426 (ISBN)

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Abstract

This chapter explores the historical relationship between the branded media entertainment of Tarzan and the rise of consumer culture in the 1920s and 1930s. It argues that the transmedia licensing of this property across pulp magazines, comics, and radio reflected the growing embrace of brand-franchise logics throughout the business landscape of America at that time. I offer the metaphor of 'stepping stones' to understand the brand linkages between these different media products in which consumption of one product led to the consumption of another. More importantly, I analyse the function of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs and his company, suggesting that his visibility as franchise-author played a crucial role in constructing these brand linkages between media products. Contextualised as part of the very different cultural landscape of 1920s and 1930s consumer culture, I demonstrate how an authorial name operated commercially as much as a corporatised component of the branded entertainment products of Tarzan as the Tarzan character himself. © 2015 by IGI Global. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Book Section
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-8342-6.ch003
Dates:	Date Event 2015 Published
Subjects:	CAH24 - media, journalism and communications > CAH24-01 - media, journalism and communications > CAH24-01-05 - media studies
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts, Design and Media > Birmingham Institute of Media and English > Birmingham School of Media
Depositing User:	Users 18 not found.
Date Deposited:	24 Mar 2017 09:46
Last Modified:	03 Mar 2022 15:59
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/610

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