Design Stories: Exploring Everyday ThingsMain MenuViking Roamer RM-315 RadioBlackberry Bold 9000CGE KE 860 Electric KettleGeneral Electric’s 1966 Mixer Gift SetTorcan 886P Desk FanBaby Champ 5110 RadioCGE Hair DryerNorthern Telecom DisplayphoneAmin Asgari, Jason Taylor, Jocelyn ZinSamson Dominion Ten-Ten HairsetterPedro Amaral, Markiyan Palisa, Maria PerriShayna Adivib7dacecf2514976340c9fee58413be50a837e99dMatteo De Sanctis2c7f0439bc7dbbce394cd0e83390508c4316e0f9Dylan Fleuelling724bd216cf74182c9eb4bf85f4606a9f90300f43Sanyukta Ghag97f13f26df5104f991a5c78bb41d5501520945a0Ipun Kandola03d267ee57ad9e450b2bdf7607c2a096f9e5b707Minjoo Kim49e4f45a5b4fbe8b16e096b51064bd70ed6cdfc2Jessica Lo7d943c8a531bf17a92d4ce73f45508d35571048bSam Loiselleb0bb424f55ffc54d35c4c41f04a27d6f1914a83aLuciana Loucel Morales3d71928b274e19c31fb29bde4fc89cfab59747ebShriya Mujumdar401f34f51ff8386c5fd4b09a5def6038ca96da55Binh Nguyen77159e04ccf5c117d1aafcf7d72182271cfe4379Madeleine North1716571a300e1e377a3f5a2800d66ac1abe953e4Hannah Palmier Blizzardb85a64743cf09ec2b4e0c037a864f93027666ab3John Emmanuel Sanchez33ea7858c1ccddd4c50514af2ce70aadfb85d654Veronika Straka4da98006d10b69194fdb4d8ffa5ee51bb82dc8e6Jersey Louise Stuart51967f8e0c22fbade42e8a48d7cf0a44ab625751Michelle Tieu6e71ec02b710e08ac76005bc08f9bbf8e71f73c6Shane Toyama9b06201b77bf32b849e009b2cbd92a7602c6bc69Kesha Upadhyay31af8fb220a8946dc1166ecfdd2597f5dd8d003cJillian Warneraab1e08d9b244e0aed9e36e52219fd40328c6753Amavi Weerakoon806c26de54e888d00f80819bd6ef5040b78ac4c6Jan Hadlawusers/jhadlaw1e125e7557d6dc997197c765699eef9bff624103
BC5110 Radio_LeSamedi-Ad_01
1media/CCE20090526_00000_thumb.jpg2025-03-23T21:55:21-04:00Catriona Nguyen0f99deda97ccbdb941b6047d7bf08b87bb51fad41356A 1947 ad for the Baby Champ 5110 Radio for Le Samedi, a weekly newspaper in Montreal, showing off the colourways of the Baby Champ 5110 Radio.plain2025-03-28T00:14:02-04:00December 1947Le Samedi. 1947. Baby Champ 5110 Radio ad. Advertisement. La Société Québécoise des Collectionneurs de Radios Anciens. https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/radio-chez-nous-canada_radio-at-home/gallery/baby-champ-1947/Digital Museums Canada, Community Stories.March 23, 2025.Catriona Nguyen0f99deda97ccbdb941b6047d7bf08b87bb51fad4
1media/6225185.jpg2025-03-25T19:36:12-04:00“Look at Me! How Was I advertised?”14A brief analysis of Baby Champ 5110 and Northern Electric Radio ads shows two features of this radio that were capitalized in its marketing campaign: it’s cheeky name and its beautiful colourways.plain2025-03-28T08:06:02-04:00
The Name
In a 1951 Northern Electric ad published in Maclean’s Magazine, highlights the unique names Northern Electric gave their models—not only did it feature the Baby Champ, but the “Panda” and “Midge” radios as well, with supporting language that pointed out each attractive radio such as “ideal personal pet”, “eye-catching”, “breath-taking”, and “eye-appealing.” It’s possible that using these unique and more importantly, accessible names held appeal to certain consumer groups, and were more effective than using only model numbers or technical jargon. In addition, Baby Champ Radio ads were often accompanied with the tagline “The Biggest Little Radio in the World”, signalling to potential buyers and consumer groups that the Baby Champ radio was in high-demand.
The Colours
Alternatively, notable magazine ads in Reader’s Digest and Le Samedi released in 1947 focus on showing off the visual and functional appeal of this radio. Below, both posters make it a point to include all variations of colours these radios come in, including specific labels that depict the official shade names. Having official names for these color variations likely helped potential buyers to feel a sense of connection and personal identity when selecting their preferred shade. In addition to this, both posters feature similar language when speaking about the product, such as “this radio possesses not only a melodious tone, but also a choice of pretty colours that harmonize with the decorative arrangement of any part of the house”. Using such language identifies this radio not just as a beautiful object, but also a holistic part of the home and overall spatial environment, redefining its advantages in the lives of its users. In emphasizing the power of colour, the Baby Champ radio employs the idea of functional colour—the belief that colour could be a tool for tapping into human emotions and creating a more efficient and pleasing environment (Blaszczyk 2016, 18-29). Postwar, this transformation of colour was said to increase the need for better design and the need to improve daily life. As design and colour became increasingly influential sales factors—eventually ranking alongside price and performance—manufacturers placed greater emphasis on aesthetics in marketing (Blaszczyk 2016, 240). This shift explains why the Baby Champ 5110 was promoted so heavily for its visual appeal.
These promotions and advertisements served to present the radio as a common household item, both perpetuating and relying on preconceived ideas of beauty and status that allowed it to resonate with the visual and material culture of the home and, ultimately, were a major influence in the formation and development of radio culture.
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