A study conducted by UK-based international analytics firm Yougov shows that about half of UK adults think cartoons are the territory of children.
According to the YouGov report:
“In recent years, people have been increasingly debating about ‘children’. That keeps people up to the hobbies and interests that children have grown up… For some, this is just juvenile. Have fun as well. ”
addition:
“In many other hobbies and activities voted, Brits are more divided. For example, Lego divides between 49% and 48% whether they are primarily for children or for children or adults.
The study asked a panel of representatives of 2,000 adults from across the political spectrum about a series of randomised questions about their perspectives regarding the selection of “Kidult” activities as part of a broader poll on general attitudes. Kidult activities asked include playing comic book reading, video games, dungeons and dragons, Doctor Who, Star Wars, costumes, birthday parties and recreational sports (interestingly, “recreational reading” is not included).
1,084 panelists were asked about their views on the “comic book.” 11% considered them entirely for their children, and an additional 40% said they were “mainly for children.” 41% said it was an astonishing 4% suggesting that it was equal for children and adults, and “most” or “complete” for adults. This means that around 51% think that comics are primarily in the children’s realm, while 41% believe that it’s for everyone.
British comics have their own history with a thriving newsstand market for weekly anthology comics for kids up until the 1980s, and today they experience a major revival of popularity through manga and kid/YA graphic novels like Jamie Smart’s Bunny vs. Monkey, Dave Pilky’s Dog Man and Alice Osman’s Heart Stopper flying Shells. The kids’ graphic novel market was one of the biggest growers in the UK’s book trade last year. Graphic novels and British literary sets for adults have steadily increased steam since the 1980s, but relatively lacking in sales or cultural cutchets for children.
In this study, results by age group and political affiliation with people of younger age groups are less likely to view cartoons as child territory almost/exclusively (38% of ages 18-34, 45% of ages 35-49). 66% of brackets ages 65 and older believed that comic books were completely/mainly for children.
Looking at political data, less than 50% of those who voted for left-leaning parties believed that the comics were for children only. Those who voted for the most left-leaning party in the 2024 British General Election (Green Party) became the strongest in camp “Comics for Everyone.” The most right-wing participants (who voted for Reform UK in 2024) said they believe the comics are mostly for 61% of children, and 30% also enjoy children and adults alike.
For comparison with other activities, recreational sports were the heaviest accepted by the British as an activity for everyone (84%), followed by board games (82%) and “collecting things” (76%). On the other side of the spectrum, stuffed toys (NB: cute toys, not stuffed) were 71% considered, primarily or exclusively.
In the wider chart comics, it was between LEGO (49%) and manga (53%). Video games seem like a more acceptable “Kidult” activity, with 54% saying it’s for kids and adults (that suggests 32% are primarily for children). 45% of Brits thought that birthday parties were primarily aimed at kids, while 70% thought receiving birthday presents was great for everyone.
Aside from the starting point of framing things from the perspective of “Kidult”, the question “comic book” has some flaws as the realm of comics has become somewhat fragmented in recent years. Many consider “graphic novels” and “manga” (and even webtoon) to be completely different things. Additionally, it would have been good to get the idea of a general attitude towards recreational reading in the “Kidult” question, but I hope it is similar to recreational sports activities sitting at a margin of over 80%. It would also be interesting to see similar studies conducted in the US.
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