In celebration of National Best Friend Day, Rainbow High, the leading fashion doll brand from MGA Entertainment, Inc (MGA), announced the results from a recent survey that explored what qualities both parents and their kids look for when building friendships. These results help kick off the new season of the hit animated series Rainbow High Project Rainbow, available on YouTube Thursday, June 8, which explores the themes of creativity, friendship and being true to who you are.
The survey of more than 1,000 moms, and their kid(s) ages four through 10, was conducted by market research agency Dynata on behalf of Rainbow High. The study revealed that the top two characteristics moms hope to see their kids embody are staying true to themselves with friends and self-confidence. Moms are specifically looking to dolls and kids’ content as key ways for young kids to learn these values.
“We are thrilled to see kids placing an emphasis on being their genuine selves with their friends,” said Isaac Larian, Founder & CEO, MGA Entertainment. “A core value of the Rainbow High brand is ‘letting your true colors shine,’ and it is that uniqueness and confidence that the brand’s characters celebrate across our doll lines, entertainment series, chapter books, video games, licensed merchandise and more. It’s clear that the pandemic has had a unique effect on children – we’re seeing a shocking ability from young kids today to express their sense of self at home and in their friendships.”
The Rainbow High brand encourages kids to continue to stay authentic to who they are as they grow older. Top survey themes and findings include:
49% of kids named “I can be my true self” as an important thing they look for in a friend or best friend, and 25% named being their true selves as the most important thing they look for.
Young kids revealed an impressive ability to look inwards and offered value-based opinions when thinking about friendships. They named “Being my true self” as the top characteristic over any other that makes a good friend, including “I can share my things with them,” “I can do the things I love,” “I can tell them anything,” and more.
This matched what moms named as key qualities when seeking friendships for their kids. Well over half (57%) name “staying true to self with friends” is among the top three most important activities for their child to engage in daily, and 76% want their child to embody self-confidence. Two in three parents report it ‘Very important’ that their child’s future friends allow them to communicate feelings and be authentic.
68% of moms said it was “very important” for their child’s future friendships to allow them to “be authentic,” yet only 30% of moms feel strongly that their child’s current friendships allow this.
Moms want their children to have the ability to self-express and be authentic but don’t see that as often as they’d like. To address this gap, moms are seeking more ways for the kids to learn these values and put them into practice, such as the toys they play with and content they watch regularly.
Rainbow High and their creative friends at Shadow High come together in a colorful world in the Animated Series Season 4 to showcase these values. Each character celebrates their own individuality and their friends’ individuality because under the rainbow, every color belongs!
56% of parents report their child frequently use their dolls or action figures to act out stories about showing kindness and building friendships.
It’s widely known among parents how important toys are in motor skills, education, social skills and more. The survey found that dolls are a big part of learning to be a good friend and storytelling. When moms were asked what they see their kids most often act out through play, 56% named friendship as the most frequent storyline, with kindness (56%) and empathy (50%) rounding out the top three.
Available now, the Rainbow High and Shadow High Spring 2023 Collections represent even more shades of the rainbow. Each Rainbow High fashion doll series includes characters with a range of unique and beautiful features, skin tones, and fashion choices that represent diversity we see all around us. Kids can also create and recreate stories about younger friends, with new Junior High Fashion Dolls, featuring younger versions of favorite Rainbow High Fashion Dolls launching late July.
A whopping 90% of moms want to see positive friendships represented in the movies and shows their kids watch.
Season 4 of Rainbow High’s animated series, Project Rainbow, debuts on June 8, 2023 on YouTube, bringing Rainbow High’s core values of friendship, being confident in yourself, and fashion to family homes. The brand has made an intentional shift in content to align more closely with what values moms are looking for. Episodes will drop every other Friday until October, then move to a more frequent cadence of every Friday for about 13 total episodes.
Project Rainbow is an exciting animated series where fan-favorite Rainbow High and Shadow High characters work together to create the best fashion designs. Sixteen fashion designers have been invited to participate, and one talented participant will be crowned winner. Project Rainbow embodies the rewarding experience of friendship and acceptance as characters navigate new ideas, skills and challenges throughout the series.
Rainbow High and Shadow High dolls are available at Walmart, Amazon and Target. New episodes of Rainbow High’s animated series can be found on YouTube and fans can catch up on the first three seasons on YouTube or Netflix. To learn more about Rainbow High, visit https://rainbowhigh.mgae.com and engage with the brand on Instagram and Facebook.
The quantitative study was conducted by a third-party market research agency Dynata, one of the largest market research suppliers in the world. The online survey was taken by 1,031 consumers from May 5-17, 2023 in the United States. The report focuses on parents who do not identify as male with children aged 4-10, and a household income of $30K or more. Participants were selected from Dynata’s online panel with samples quota-controlled on age, gender, ethnicity, and household income.
Methodology: The quantitative data consists of a questionnaire survey conducted among parents, aged 18-50, who do not identify as male with one to four children aged 4-10 and contains 1,031 responses. The data collection was carried out by Dynata and the children’s responses were collected from their parents in Dynata’s online panel, requiring both parent and child to complete survey in order to be included. This allowed children’s parents to give their consent and provide demographic information needed for data analysis.