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.

中文翻译：

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“企鹅来了”：二战期间英国的品牌吉祥物与乌托邦式大众消费

本文探讨了 1920 年代和 1930 年代英国品牌和大众消费的文化动态。它专注于企鹅图书公司的卡通吉祥物，该吉祥物出现在 1935 年该公司的所有平装封面和店内宣传材料上。企鹅吉祥物是一个熟悉但被严重忽视的文化偶像，紧随一波突出的广告人物，这些广告人物积极地冲进了英国的商业广告。 1920年代初的场景。品牌吉祥物在包装、海报围板和媒体广告中高度可见，在 1920 年代成为流行的媒体明星，似乎预示着物质平等和集体消费者主权时代的曙光。十年后，企鹅的吉祥物利用这种围绕品牌大众消费的乌托邦主义来塑造社会民主进步的左派愿景。加上某些店内展示技术和购买方式，企鹅图书似乎构成了一个开明的公共领域。卡通鸟成为一种有利可图的机制，通过它邀请浏览器为这个进步的文化项目做出贡献。