Anthropomorphism in Marketing of M&M’s Report

The notion of anthropomorphism in marketing is connected with the process of brand humanization. It allows the company to create a more personified, human-like image of the brand, which increases its popularity among customers. The development of anthropomorphic animal characters representing the brand in advertising makes the promotion campaign memorable and effective. The main point is that anthropomorphism increases clients’ engagement with the brand, making it more attractive for people to follow it and buy it. The commercials by M&M’s illustrate these claims about anthropomorphism in marketing vividly. Brand anthropomorphism ensures positive feedback from clients to the particular product, which makes the goods and the services the company promotes more trustworthy for the target audience who might purchase it.

Description of the Brand and its Usage of Anthropomorphism

The advertising campaigns of M&M’s show successful results of anthropomorphism using the same human-like mascots for decades. An advertising campaign with two mascots, Yellow and Red, appeared in the 1990s, and new ads appeared where Green, Brown, Orange, and Blue mascots participated (M&M’s History). One of the last commercials by M&M’s released in 2018 for the Super Bowl features the transformation of the Red mascot into a human (M&M’s Super Bowl Commercial 2018 Danny DeVito Human). In this video, Red becomes Danny DeVito, and he fulfills his dream of becoming a man when he picks the magic coin in the street. At the same time, his experience as a human is not successful, and he is instantly kicked by the car, which makes Brown express an ironic attitude concerning the dream of becoming a human. The commercial is comic, and people laugh at the new stories from Red and Brown. The images of the anthropomorphic mascots are recognizable, which makes the advertising effective from the marketing perspective.

The example of the M&M’s commercial shows that the brand creates interpersonal relationships with its clients. Anthropomorphic mascots make the brand easy to perceive because most people associate them with a particular company and production. In other words, the use of anthropomorphic characters that represent the brand facilitates recognition of the company by the audience. It makes the representation of the product significantly shorter and more metaphoric in the commercial. It allows consumers to hypothesize that the company simplified the brand to the symbol using the anthropomorphic mascot, which is the essential step in marketing.

Another feature of a brand’s anthropomorphism in marketing is modeling the positive attitude of the audience to the product. The use of various humorous stories that show the episodes from the lives of the mascots creates the continuity of the advertising campaign (Delgado-Ballester, Palazón, Peláez 151). The audience perceives the M&Ms commercial as one episode from the series of stories about Red, Black, Yellow, and others. These characteristics determine the positive attitude of customers toward M&M’s as the brand.

Therefore, anthropomorphic mascots enhance the interpersonal connection between customers and the brand and ensure that people perceive the brand positively. M&M’s introduced its anthropomorphic characters many years ago and continues to show episodes from their lives in commercials. It makes the brand’s advertising campaign engaging for the audience to follow because the stories are always funny and new. Anthropomorphic characters facilitate recognition of the brand because everyone knows that Red and Brown are the mascots of M&M’s. It increases the brand’s popularity and reduces the chances that another company might replace it.

Analysis of the Brand from the Emotional Perspective

M&M’s anthropomorphic mascots exhibit human-life emotions. For instance, the discussed commercial shows Red’s happiness when he finds the magic penny. The coin reacts to his words that he wishes he were human, and no one would like to eat him. The advertisement shows the dialogue between Red and Brown, who walk down the street, and Red tells his friend that three people wanted to eat him that day. From the perspective of humans, it is a horrible situation, and Red shares these feelings. He does not want people to eat him, which makes his emotions completely anthropomorphic and easy to understand for the audience. His happiness about becoming a human is understandable from the perspective of human logic, which makes the mascots similar to people who watch the commercial. It increases the level of connection between customers and the brand.

It is easy to understand the emotions that Brown experiences while watching Red’s transformation. He does not share Red’s enthusiasm about being human, and he does not want to be a man. When Red evaluates his handsome looks in the mirror after the car hits him, he remains skeptical. Brown’s emotions oppose Red’s behavior and feelings, which makes this situation similar to those that happen among people. One person in the company is too enthusiastic about the dubious thing, and another individual can only watch how the situation develops. In other words, the commercial audience might find the emotions of Brown and Red realistic, which makes the conduct of the anthropomorphic characters credible.

Analysis of the Brand from the Cognition Perspective

M&M’s anthropomorphic mascots exhibit human-life cognition reflected in people’s behavioral patterns. As already mentioned, Red and Brown exhibit typically human behavior in the situation described in the commercial. The behavior of Red, who becomes the older man and understands that no one wants to eat him, is expected and justified from a logical point of view. His reserved behavior and the absence of optimism of Brown are rationally foregrounded because he does not see anything positive in the changes that happened to Red.

The mascots go down the street, and other people ignore their difference, which is critical from the perspective of cognition. The commercial emphasizes that these mascots are similar to humans; they engage in the same activities as humans. Therefore, the desire of some people to rat them is strange, which makes the position of Red explainable and rational. The similarity between anthropomorphic mascots and humans enhances the connection between the audience of the commercial and the product the mascots promote. In other words, the anthropomorphic mascots do not only act and think like humans; other individuals perceive them as humans.

Analysis of the Brand on the Two Favorable Aspects

Humor is the essential component of the brand tactics that is the basis of all commercials by M&M’s. Laughing at the stories from the lives of anthropomorphic candies creates positive associations with the brand. When people think about M&M’s, they recall these funny stories from commercials, and they buy the product because laughing, humor, and these sweets are interconnected in their memories. They might remember how Red comes to all people in the street, asking them whether they want to eat him or not. They might recall the comments about Red’s good looks and the funny appearance of the actor who plays Red in the commercial. In both cases, the associations with the brand are positive, which contributes to customers’ loyalty.

The second favorite aspect of the commercial is the tradition of storytelling that lasts for many years. Corresponding to the audience’s expectations is essential from the marketing perspective because it enhances the brand’s credibility (Delgado-Ballester, Palazón, Peláez 151). People know that M&M’s usually shows funny stories from the lives of its anthropomorphic mascots who live as normal humans. They know what they can expect from the advertisements of this brand, and they wait for this type of content.

Analysis of the Brand on the Two Unfavorable Aspects

The structure of the M&M’s commercials is always the same, which might make the campaign too predictable for the audience. From one point of view, tradition is the positive side of the ongoing marketing strategy. From another perspective, people might feel tired of numerous similar stories that develop according to the expected pattern and are released over decades. Therefore, it is critical to balance the tradition of storytelling and predictability in a brand’s marketing.

The second unfavorable aspect is connected with the limited social identification the brand proposes to customers. For example, M&M’s uses anthropomorphous mascots that behave like adolescents in the commercials, determining their target audience. Their reactions to the problems and the situations where they participate make them similar to teenagers who are emotional and not limited by social restrictions. The determined social identification allows the brand to promote its products among those customers who are most likely to buy them (Delgado-Ballester, Palazón, Peláez 152). At the same time, the focus on adolescents attracts mainly children and teenagers, while middle-aged clients or older adults might not buy M&M’s because it does not reflect their social identification in the commercials.

Marketing Recommendations

It is possible to propose several marketing tactics to enhance the effectiveness of anthropomorphism in marketing for the selected brand. First of all, M&M’s marketing focuses on creating a warm attitude of customers, but it does not make the commercials distinctive. They do not feature relevant social issues and remain humorous for years (Delgado-Ballester, Palazón, Peláez 153). It shows positive results, and the brand’s popularity does not decrease, but the focus on more urgent questions in the stories about M&M’s mascots might improve the existing marketing tactics. Second, personal and social identity is critical in the formation of effective marketing tactics. Therefore, it is necessary to modify the existing methods to improve the perception of the brand, increase its popularity among customers, and positively influence the desire of clients to buy it and recommend it to others. The emphasis on the personal and social identity of the brand enhances the loyalty of the audience and ensures that people will continue buying this product in the future.

Third, it might be effective to modify the traditional format of stories from the lives of the anthropomorphic candies that do not change from the beginning of the advertising campaign. These innovations might increase the brand’s popularity among people from various social groups and ages. At this moment, M&M’s marketing focuses more on young people, adolescents, and children, as the advertising campaign shows. To conclude, anthropomorphic mascots in the commercials make the brand easy to recognize and increase its trustworthiness. It shows people who is the target audience for the particular brand, which determines their choice of the product.

Works Cited

Delgado-Ballester, Elena, Palazón, Mariola, Peláez, Jenny. “Anthropomorphized vs. Objectified Brands: Which Brand Version is More Loved?” European Journal of Management and Business Economics, vol. 29, no. 2, 2020, pp. 150-165.

“M&M’s Super Bowl Commercial 2018 Danny DeVito Human.” YouTube, uploaded by Commercials Funny, Web.

“M&M’s History.” M&M’s, 2022, Web.