Instilling Loyalty through Friendship

I want to recuperate the reading experience of Topolino and Le Journal de Mickey. In order to do so, I focus on the clubs they created. This blog post is about how Mondadori launched "Gli Amici di Topolino" at the end of 1935, what the magazine expected of its readers, and what it offered to its readers. I show how children were both commodified and scripted to collect in order to claim scholarships and food. I also reveal how the globally circulating Mickey Magazine, was very much an Italian product, promoting other Made-in-Italy commodities.

First contest and prizes

November 1935: Mondadori launches a strategy to try and bind readers to its two magazines: Topolino and I tre porcellini [The Three Piglets]. The editor designs a contest by which readers are asked to cut out stamps from both magazines, and send those in. The goal is to be rewarded with a scholarships, food such as Motta products, and more.

The Result

A reader has neatly cut out the stamps to collect from Topolino, no. 156, 22 December 1935.

The Album to Collect Stamps

Thanks to collectors who save these pieces, scholars can learn about lost inserts when paper magazines were turned into hardcover volumes in archives.

More info: http://www.cartesio-episteme.net/calcio/topolino/topolino.htm

Motta panettone

It is not surprising that Mondadori, published based in Milan, rewarded its reader with a Made-in-Milan product such as Motta. Moreover, around Christmas, the most consumed sweet was (and still is) the Italian "panettone". I found this Motta panettone commercial video, supposedly from 19/12/1935, on the Youtube channel of the Archivio Luce Cinecittà.

Just how Milanese the sweet bread and fruitcake is, is evident from the promotional image to the left.

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