MGM is allowing two of its cartoon characters —the Pink Panther and Rocky [Ed. note: Who in the hot hell is Rocky?]— to be used as part of a marketing campaign targeting Latin America:

New York-based Big Tent Entertainment has entered into an agreement with MGM Consumer Products to become the exclusive licensing agent for Argentina and Chile, the two companies announced Thursday. “Latin America is a burgeoning marketplace for branded entertainment and I believe it will continue to be so for the foreseeable future,” said Richard Collins, president and CEO of Big Tent.

Paul Flett, vice president of worldwide marketing and promotions at MGM, added that the characters of Pink Panther and Rocky have remained hugely popular in both territories over the years — with Panther TV episodes still airing there to buoyant numbers.

“We love the way things are trending there, ” Collins said. “The population is growing, the middle class economy — particularly in Argentina — is burgeoning and we like the way retailers are going to market.”

There will be a multilevel approach to the marketing, with Pink Panther apparel and other merchandise appealing to the youth market, plush toys and other products from the “Pink Pan and Friends” cartoon series appealing to younger kids and tweens, and Rocky product selling to an older segment of the population, Collins said.

You know kids and tweens are going to be the last demographic this will appeal to. Please don’t encourage shit like this. Grown-ass women skipping around in Tweetie Bird overalls or huge “Winnie The Pooh University” sweatshirts. Men in really “hard” airbrushed t-shirts featuring Taz and Pepe Le Pew dressed as thugs or pimps. Shit is juvenile, son. And, no, we don’t want to see where your new Daisy Duck tattoo is.

MGM targets Latin America with Pink Panther, Rocky [Yahoo News]