The Assian Style

Dora Cartoon Rocks

In the coming months, Dora will appear in everything from public service advertisements for the U.S. Census to a backpack program with Salma Hayek to a seat-belt safety initiative with State Farm to Australian passports each serving a different multicultural marketing purpose, and all before her diamond anniversary this August. Hard to believe a character now seen in 151 countries and 30 different languages might have once been thought of as a marketing challenge just over a decade ago.

As Nickelodeon legend goes, the Viacom kids' network's head of animation, Brown Johnson, was attending a conference about Latinos' portrayal on TV or lack thereof, at the time when a light bulb went off in her head. Creators Chris Gifford and Valerie Walsh Valdes shifted the focus of their original series about a problem solving "Blues Clues" esque bunny rabbit to a 7-year-old Latina girl explorer who could teach preschoolers how to speak Spanish. The show debuted in 2000 as the No. 1 most watched show among preschoolers in all of TV, and has held that status for six of the last 10 years.

Now that Nickelodeon is sharing the Dora brand with a series of new partners, Pam Kaufman, the network's chief marketing officer, described the risks as a lot less challenging this time around.

"Dora the Explorer is a well-recognized character who's bilingual and certainly reaches the young viewers and will help us get the message to the parents and child-care providers of those younger viewers"

The National Parents and Teachers Association and the Children's Defense Fund are also relying on Dora to help prepare the under-5 circuit for preschool with an upcoming "Beyond the Backpack"

"We know through our research that Dora speaks to teaching a second language, problem solving, interpersonal skills and familiarizing kids with computer technology."