The Penguins Are Coming”
Brand Mascots and Utopian Mass Consumption in Interwar Britain
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10067494 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richard Hornsey (0000-0003-2521-3515, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 812-839 |
| Publication date | 2018-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of British Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9371 • E-ISSN: 1545-6986 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/jbr.2018.116 |
| OpenAlex | W2885290378 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 31 |
This article explores the cultural dynamics of branding and mass consumption in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s. It focuses on Penguin Books’ cartoon mascot, which appeared on all of the firm's paperback covers and in-store promotional material from 1935. A familiar but critically ignored cultural icon, Penguin's mascot followed a wave of prominent advertising characters that energetically burst onto Britain's commercial scene in the early 1920s. Highly visible on packaging, poster hoardings, and advertisements within the press, brand mascots became popular media stars in the 1920s, seeming to herald a dawning age of material parity and collective consumer sovereignty. A decade later, Penguin's mascot used this utopianism around branded mass consumption to forge a leftist vision of social-democratic progress. Augmented by certain in-store display techniques and modes of purchase, Penguin Books appeared to constitute an enlightened public sphere. The cartoon bird became a lucrative mechanism through which browsers were invited to contribute to this progressive cultural project
Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Business · Consumption (sociology · Democracy · Icon · Mascot · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Decadence, Literature, and Society · Fashion and Cultural Textiles · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law
The commodity culture of Victorian England
Stars
Reading with a mission
The Coming of the Mass Market, 1850–1914
The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes
Consumerism in Twentieth-Century Britain
Penguin by Design
For the Birds
The Twopenny Library
A Paperback Guide to Progress
Defining Trade Characters and Their Role In American Popular Culture
Meanings of Modernity
A Fascinating Show for John Citizen and his Wife”
Clap if You Believe in Sherlock Holmes’
Popular Reading and Social Investigation in Britain, 1850s–1940s
Trademarks, brands, and competitiveness
To Exercise Our Talents
Sociology of Film; Studies and Documents
Adding Value
The Rise of Consumer Society in Britain, 1880-1980
Rowntree and the Marketing Revolution, 1862-1969
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |