Youth culture and targeting the market

The Beatles
For this post that is meant for album covers I have chosen to slightly veer off and write it about an EP, Yellow Submarine (orginally on the opposite side to Elenor Rigby) that was an explosion of colour when it first arrived in 1966, the height of the Hippy era. The easily remembered lyrics and whimsical instrumental seemed perfect for the children's song that it was originally meant for, but after the success of the song sung by the lovable Ringo Starr attracted attention from their fans they just went with it.

There was team of artists/illustrators and animators that were put on the Yellow Submarine marketing, the art director being Jack Stokes. He had oroginallt met the Beatles in 1965 when he was commissioned for the animated series 'The Beatles', when he was later chosen in 1969 to create the 'Yellow Submarine Film' that accompanied the song. Not only is the above image one of the most recognisable of the Beatles collective career but it was also ground breaking in terms of the sheer amount of marketing that surrounded it. The catchy song would appeal to most in that decade anyway for the whimsical and easy listening quality and the psychedelic artwork that accompanied it. 

http://www.beatlesbible.com/gallery/releases/yellow_submarine/

http://www.yellowsubmarineart.com/ys_info/jackstokes_info.html