頭疼亦幸福: 哄孩子職業初顯商業模式
Meryl Salzinger's job re·quires her to be the “most fun person in the room”. Pulling faces, running around in circles, being generally “uncool” are all part of a day's work.
梅里爾·賽爾辛格(Meryl Salzinger)的工作就是成爲“房間裏最有趣的人”。扯着臉做鬼臉、轉着圈跑動、總是做出“傻里傻氣”的樣子都是她整天的工作內容。
She is not a clown, although some days it feels that way, but a “baby wrangler”. The job involves coaxing smiles or tears from infants on photo and film shoots for advertisers and for editorial.
儘管這有時候讓人感覺像小丑，但她並不是，而是一位“寶寶情緒調節師”。這份工作負責逗樂或逗哭那些供廣告商或刊物編輯拍照或攝像的嬰兒。
Physically and mentally draining is how the relentlessly upbeat 48-year-old describes the job. It helps that she is an ex-dancer, surfer, swimmer and yogi. “I'm on my feet all day, running, jumping, dancing and falling on my butt to make the kids laugh and [my sporting hobbies] also give me the mental strength to be patient.” She finds parallels between surfing and wrangling: “The smallest wave can give you your best ride if you know how to enjoy it. The shyest or wildest kid can give you your best shot if you have the patience.” Imitating a duck's quack or a monkey's babble can help.
這位極度開朗的48歲女士稱，這份工作不論在體力還是精神上都是極大的消耗。她過去當過舞蹈演員、衝浪運動員、游泳運動員和瑜伽師，這些都對她的工作很有幫助。她說：“我整天馬不停蹄，爲了讓孩子們開懷大笑，我不停地跑、跳、舞蹈或一屁股跌坐在地上。（我喜愛運動）這一點也讓我極具耐心。”她發現衝浪和逗小孩有許多類似之處：“如果你懂得享受衝浪，最小的浪花也能令你完成最棒的衝浪動作。而如果你足夠耐心，最害羞或最野的小孩也能讓你拍出最好的照片。”模仿鴨子呱呱叫或者像猴子一樣咿咿呀呀，就是哄小孩的好方法。
While she loves children she never wanted to have any herself. “I get the best part of kids – they look nice and they smile. Then they go home. Mums say to me: ‘How do you have the patience to get my kid to do that?' I say: ‘It's because it's not my kid'.”
儘管她很喜歡小孩，她自己卻一點也不想要小孩。“我見到了孩子們最棒的一面——又乖又愛笑。之後他們就回家了。媽媽們問我：‘你怎麼會有這麼大的耐心，能讓我的孩子做到這一點？'我回答：‘這是因爲這不是我的孩子'。”
As the market for infant products grows, a heavy commercial weight rests on the chubby shoulders of the baby “talent”. According to Mintel, sales of baby durables in the US were $2.7bn in 2011. The market is expected to grow 15 per cent between 2011 and 2016, reaching $3.1bn. The research group also says the number of household goods with “baby” in the product description increased 80 per cent between 2008 and 2012 – from 180 launches to about 330 last year.
隨着嬰兒用品的市場不斷增長，這些嬰兒中的“漂亮寶貝”正用他們肥嘟嘟的肩膀揹負起重重的商業擔子。Mintel公司的數據顯示，2011年美國嬰兒耐用品的銷售額爲27億美元。這一市場的規模預計從2011年到2016年將增長15%，增至31億美元。Mintel還表示，產品描述中帶“嬰兒”字樣的日用品種類從2008年的180種增長到去年的大約330種，增幅80%。
Parenting magazines catering to working mothers, lifestyle for fathers and “green” parenthood, are no longer just on the newsstands but online, on apps. All require photographs. Lee Southey, art director for Junior and Practical Parenting magazines, says: “There is an increased demand for more images of babies, more shoots, for more and more products and fashion ranges.”
爲在職媽媽服務、爲爸爸們提供時尚資訊以及爲父母提供“環保”育兒方式信息的育兒雜誌，如今不再只是擺在書報亭裏出售，還做成應用放到了網上。所有這些都需要拍攝照片。《初級實用育兒》(Junior and Practical Parenting)雜誌的藝術總監李·索錫(Lee Southey)表示：“越來越多的產品和時尚領域不斷增加着對嬰兒圖片和視頻的需求。”
In recent years designer labels such as Hugo Boss, Chloé, Fendi, Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney have all added children's ranges. A classic Burberry check dress for a newborn retails at ·110 while a Dior padded jacket goes for almost ·400. Last month London hosted the first global fashion week devoted to children. Should your baby's odour need some enhancement there are perfumes too – Burberry's Baby Touch and Bulgari's Petits et Mamans, soon to be joined by Dolce and Gabbana.
最近幾年，雨果博斯(Hugo Boss)、蔻依(Chloé)、芬迪(Fendi)、馬克·雅各布斯(Marc Jacobs)以及斯特拉·麥卡特尼(Stella McCartney)這類設計品牌都增加了兒童系列。一件給新生兒穿的博柏利(Burberry)經典格紋外套零售價爲110英鎊，而一件迪奧(Dior)夾層夾克售價則將近400英鎊。上個月，倫敦舉辦了首次以兒童爲主題的全球時裝週。如果你需要改善下寶寶的體味，你還可以買到嬰兒香水，比如博柏利的情緣寶寶(Baby Touch)以及寶格麗(Bulgari)的甜蜜寶貝(Petits et Mamans)，杜嘉班納(Dolce and Gabbana)不久也將發佈嬰兒香水。
The emotional appeal of babies for advertisers is potent, says Patti Williams, an associate professor of marketing at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. “They immediately evoke a kind of empathy and engagement, especially from parents. Images of babies have emotional power and the ability to draw a viewer in and to keep a viewer's attention.”
賓夕法尼亞大學(University of Pennsylvania)沃頓商學院(Wharton School)市場營銷副教授帕蒂·威廉姆斯(Patti Williams)表示，對廣告商來說，嬰兒具有強大的情感力量。“他們會立刻激發人們的共鳴和情感投入，特別是在那些爸爸媽媽當中。嬰兒的形象具有一種情感上的影響力，能夠吸引並保持觀看者的注意力。”
It is Ms Salzinger's task to defuse the pressure from the financial expectations resting on the infants. “Babies need a quiet set. They need people not to be nervous around them. They're like sponges. If you're agitated, so are they. I tell the adults to relax. It's not good if the baby looks around at anxious adults, they'll end up crying.” Often she will take the infant off the set for some quiet time in order that the adults can calm down. To make a baby cry she might take a toy away or encourage a parent to play with their child and then leave.
而賽爾辛格的一項任務，就是緩和嬰兒揹負的財務預期帶來的壓力。她表示：“寶寶們需要安靜的拍攝環境。他們需要周圍的人們不能太過緊張。他們就像海綿一樣。如果你躁動不安，他們也會如此。我告訴那些大人放鬆心情。如果寶寶環顧四周看到的都是焦急的大人，這將十分不妙，他們最終會哭起來。”爲了讓大人們平靜下來，她往往會將嬰兒帶離片場安靜一會。而每當需要寶寶啼哭時，她會把玩具從寶寶手裏搶走，或者讓父母與孩子玩一會兒再離開。
Yet while the opportunities presented by baby and parenting products have increased, advertising and editorial budgets have been cut. Often the role of baby wrangler will be eliminated.
然而，儘管嬰兒及育兒產品帶來的機遇增多了，廣告和刊物方面的預算卻有所削減。在許多情況下，寶寶情緒調節師的角色會被取消。
Ms Salzinger thinks it is a false economy. “Everyone on the set has a job·.·.·.·It means we have different mindsets. A stylist wants to keep pulling the shirt down. They can't do my job, which is pulling faces and keeping the kid happy.”
賽爾辛格認爲這種算盤打錯了。“片場每個人都有各自的職責……也就是說，我們的頭腦有不同的思維。造型師只想着把孩子的上衣拉下來。他們幹不了我的活，比如做鬼臉和逗孩子開心。”
Economic constraints also mean that the days of specialist photographers are over. “Now they have to do everything,” she says. “They aren't so used to working with kids. They aren't factoring in naps to the day. They haven't brought baby wipes.” Part of her job is to educate the photographers. “They sometimes have toddlers balancing on a table without thinking of laying cushions on the floor. Or they put loud baby music on. We don't need that, we need some quiet so I can connect with the baby calmly.”
經濟上的限制也意味着聘請專業攝影師的時代結束了。她表示：“如今他們不得不什麼事都做。他們不太習慣與孩子打交道。他們不會考慮到孩子白天需要小睡。他們也沒有帶嬰兒溼紙巾。”教育那些攝影師也是她職責的一部分。“他們有時候會讓剛學走路的孩子顫顫巍巍地站在桌子上，卻沒考慮到要在地板上鋪上墊子。或者他們還會把幼兒音樂的音量開得很大。我們需要的不是這個，我們需要安靜，這樣我才能與寶寶平靜地交流。”
As a freelancer she is paid a day rate, earning most for print advertising and television commercials and least for editorial and catalogue work. She says her rates are similar to those of a photo stylist.
作爲自由職業者，賽爾辛格按天收費，她的收入主要來自平面廣告和電視商業廣告，來自刊物和購物手冊的收入最少。她說她的服務價格與平面造型師相當。
Before wrangling, Ms Salzinger worked as a studio manager for commercial photographers as well as a photographer's assistant, so she knows some of the technical aspects of a shoot: “I know where the babies need to look to get the lighting right.” Other baby wranglers come through teaching. Raised in New York, which is still her home, Ms Salzinger studied social anthropology. Both her parents are research psychologists and she sometimes calls her mother, a specialist in child development, for advice.
在做寶寶情緒調節師之前，賽爾辛格曾做過商業攝影師的工作室經理，也曾做過攝影師助理，因此她對攝影技術還是有所瞭解的：“我知道應該讓寶寶往哪裏看才能獲得恰到好處的光線效果。”其他寶寶情緒調節師都曾有過教育方面的經歷，而賽爾辛格過去卻是研究社會人類學的。她在紐約長大，現在依然住在那裏。她父母都是做研究的心理學家。有時候，她會打電話給她的母親——一位兒童成長方面的專家——徵求意見。
She does not feel comfortable speaking about the commercialisation of childhood and parenthood because she is not a parent. “I've heard a lot of different things and would have to leave that to the social scientists who can do controlled studies.”
對於把兒童和父母的角色商業化的問題，她談起來十分爲難，因爲她沒做過母親。“我聽說過各種不同說法，這個問題恐怕得交給那些社會學家，他們能進行對照研究。”
However, she does refuse to work on shoots that encourage the sexualisation of young girls. “In any case, those photographers don't tend to want a wrangler. They don't want the girls to smile, they want them to look adult. It irks me.”
不過，她的確會拒絕參加那些表現年幼女孩性感的攝影工作。“不管怎樣，那些攝影師也不會想要情緒調節師。他們根本不想讓那些女孩微笑，他們想要她們看起來成人化。這讓我很討厭。”
Acknowledging that the children she works with are there to sell something, she does, however, “like to think that [they learn] something. The younger babies sometimes take their first steps on camera while we are trying to get them to stand.
儘管她承認，她工作中的那些孩子們是爲了推銷某種東西來到片場的，然而她“更願意認爲（他們學到了）什麼東西。有時候年幼點的寶寶們是在我們試圖讓他們站起來時，在鏡頭前邁出了人生的第一步”。
“The older kids can see that if they really try they can do it. And it is something they accomplish on their own – so it makes them feel cool.”
“而年長些的孩子則能夠從這一過程中認識到，只要他們真地去做他們就能做到。而且這是他們憑自己的努力做到的事，這會令他們感覺很棒。”
The parents generally leave her alone to get on with the job. Though she has had to disappoint one grandmother determined that her perpetually crying baby would be a star. “In the end I had to take her by the hand and lead her off the set.”
通常，家長們會讓她獨立完成這一工作。不過她曾不得不令一位奶奶失望，這位女士堅決認爲她哭個不停的寶寶將成爲明星。“最終我不得不牽着她的手將她領出片場。”
