Economy & Business, Volume 18, 2024

Abstract: This paper deals with the use and effect of cartoon mascots in the field of the luxury food industry. The aim of the paper is to check the efficiency of the artefact. For this purpose, the paper is divided into two areas. The first section deals with the design and effect of cartoon mascots on the child consumer in order to find out how and in what way companies in the luxury food industry influence the perception and purchasing decisions of the target group. For this purpose, secondary data from specialist literature in the fields of marketing, economics, graphics / design, pedagogy and psychology is used to prove the efficiency of the packing medium on the child market. The second area of the paper deals with the target group of adults and is intended to answer the question whether, how and to what extent the emotional relationships of the test subjects to the mascots established in childhood have withstood and had an impact on brand loyalty, as well as the perception and purchase decision of adult consumers. For this purpose, primary data will be used, which will provide the data that can be used to verify or falsify the hypotheses made about the efficiency of the medium by means of an online survey. The underlying knowledge from the first area of the bachelor thesis was used to narrow down the research framework of the survey and to design the structure and orientation of the questions. As a result of the survey, it was shown that the efficiency and effectiveness of cartoon mascots, in the field of the luxury food industry, could be demonstrated in 3 out of 4 of the hypotheses presented, although it should be noted that the fourth hypothesis could be at least partially verified with the available data. While the representative qualities of the mascots as spokespersons of their brands, the emotional attachment of the test subjects, as well as the influence on their perception and purchase decision with regard to the mascots depicted could be demonstrated, the increased consumer behavior of the products triggered by the mascot could not be proven without exception. It turned out that several factors play a role in this area and it is not possible to say with absolute certainty which of the factors achieves which effect. Accordingly, it would be instructive to continue research in this area in order to gain more precise insights into the relationships between the individual factors and to find out what role cartoon mascots ultimately play in this process.