Women Like Tweety, Men Prefer Goofy

Allegiances to cartoon and TV characters split down gender lines.

At the Disney stores, men tend to buy Goofy and Genie (from “Aladdin”) merchandise for themselves. Women gravitate toward Mickey, Minnie and Winnie the Pooh when feeling self-indulgent.

The big box-office female characters--Ariel (“The Little Mermaid”), Jasmine (“Aladdin”) and Belle (“Beauty and the Beast”)--rarely make the leap from children’s to adult sizes. Little girls love the princesses, but big girls tend to buy nightshirts featuring Cruella De Vil (the arch-eyebrowed villainess of “101 Dalmatians”) to give as presents to other women, says Disney’s Debbie Bohnett. When women buy for men, they are likely to choose the Beast.

At Warner Bros., it’s rough and rowdy Taz for him and sweet Tweety for her. Bugs Bunny is popular with both sexes.

Sesame Street’s Elmo, the baby of preschool puppet land, appeals to males, females, adults and children. “He’s (our) No 1. character,” says Cheryl Chung of the South Coast Plaza store. Surprisingly, Big Bird, who is featured on much of the little girls’ clothing, is a bigger seller with adults than with kids.