Playing YouTube: How the Nancy YouTuber doll and app position children as aspiring YouTube influencers.
This article analyzes Nancy YouTuber, a popular doll and companion app that is part of a growing trend of children's toys modeled on YouTube influencers. Nancy YouTuber's app is one of the first to provide a fictitious YouTube channel, introducing children to YouTube's affordances. We...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86986 |
| _version_ | 1848764893366321152 |
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| author | Ruiz-Gomez, Alexandra Leaver, Tama Abidin, Crystal |
| author_facet | Ruiz-Gomez, Alexandra Leaver, Tama Abidin, Crystal |
| author_sort | Ruiz-Gomez, Alexandra |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This article analyzes Nancy YouTuber, a popular doll and companion app that is part of a growing trend of children's toys modeled on YouTube influencers. Nancy YouTuber's app is one of the first to provide a fictitious YouTube channel, introducing children to YouTube's affordances. We investigate how the doll and app socialize YouTuber practices, and to what extent the combination of both deepens the commodification of childhood. We use the walkthrough method to analyze the app, and a semiotic approach to study the doll, its accessories and surrounding materials to map the manufacturer's intended use through these discourses. Our research uncovers how children are encouraged to recreate product reviews and internalize commercial digital identity performances. We use Spain, where the doll originates, to contextualize these findings. The article considers how influencer-aspirant toys position children as promotional intermediaries and normalize children's YouTuber aspirations. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:26:35Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-86986 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:26:35Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-869862022-01-11T02:59:19Z Playing YouTube: How the Nancy YouTuber doll and app position children as aspiring YouTube influencers. Ruiz-Gomez, Alexandra Leaver, Tama Abidin, Crystal child YouTube star 2001 - Communication and Media Studies 4701 - Communication and media studies This article analyzes Nancy YouTuber, a popular doll and companion app that is part of a growing trend of children's toys modeled on YouTube influencers. Nancy YouTuber's app is one of the first to provide a fictitious YouTube channel, introducing children to YouTube's affordances. We investigate how the doll and app socialize YouTuber practices, and to what extent the combination of both deepens the commodification of childhood. We use the walkthrough method to analyze the app, and a semiotic approach to study the doll, its accessories and surrounding materials to map the manufacturer's intended use through these discourses. Our research uncovers how children are encouraged to recreate product reviews and internalize commercial digital identity performances. We use Spain, where the doll originates, to contextualize these findings. The article considers how influencer-aspirant toys position children as promotional intermediaries and normalize children's YouTuber aspirations. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86986 10.1177/13678779211063222 fulltext |
| spellingShingle | child YouTube star 2001 - Communication and Media Studies 4701 - Communication and media studies Ruiz-Gomez, Alexandra Leaver, Tama Abidin, Crystal Playing YouTube: How the Nancy YouTuber doll and app position children as aspiring YouTube influencers. |
| title | Playing YouTube: How the Nancy YouTuber doll and app position children as aspiring YouTube influencers. |
| title_full | Playing YouTube: How the Nancy YouTuber doll and app position children as aspiring YouTube influencers. |
| title_fullStr | Playing YouTube: How the Nancy YouTuber doll and app position children as aspiring YouTube influencers. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Playing YouTube: How the Nancy YouTuber doll and app position children as aspiring YouTube influencers. |
| title_short | Playing YouTube: How the Nancy YouTuber doll and app position children as aspiring YouTube influencers. |
| title_sort | playing youtube: how the nancy youtuber doll and app position children as aspiring youtube influencers. |
| topic | child YouTube star 2001 - Communication and Media Studies 4701 - Communication and media studies |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86986 |