Media Awareness Network posted special marketing and advertising issues on tweens and teens,http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/marketing/issues_teens_marketing.cfm Why are they so important and who are they? Tweens and teens are a group who are between childhood and adulthood. They are becoming the fastest rising consumers in America. With this knowledge, corporations are seizing the opportunity to increase their profit margin by targeting advertisements to these age groups, but to what cost to the tweens and teens. Are the marketing strategies used harmful or helpful to their development?
Fashion had become the embodiment of people’s social origins, their perception of where they fit into the middle class, and an expression of who they want to become. (Blaszezyk, pg. 230) It is unfortunate that youths’ self esteem are shaped by the mass media. The article states “the underlying marketing message is that there is a link between physical beauty and sex appeal – and popularity, success, and happiness. Media is creating massive insecurities in youths because they do not measure up to the “exploitive media images”.
When I served as a youth counselor, each week the youths would be dressed in “name brand labels”. Each clique would be dressed alike. Youths are finding their identity, not in themselves, but in each other, - collective identity. In the summer months, girls wore shorts that practically showed their underwear. Tops were cropped so low, part of their breasts could be seen. Clothes were tight fitting that out lined their bodies. It is clear media is influencing the dress code of these youths.
It is understandable from the company’s point of view, targeting to tweens and teens is a profitable strategy, but shouldn’t there be a greater responsibility of corporation besides money. Manipulating and shaping young minds to see their bodies as only sex objects to gain profit is wrong. Where is social responsibility from American corporations? Mass media will be producing insecure, dependent youths who will be the next generation of “leaders”. America will be a sad place because of greed.
Jennifer Chen
Section 01
I agree that corporations and advertisers should have a social responsibility in the way they market goods to tweens and teens. However, there is also a parental responsibility. The parents of these tweens and teens need to stand up and just not purchase these clothing items if they are inappropriate for their children. That is one way to get the message across. Thomas Walsh 01
ReplyDeleteI both like and agree with your article here. Unfortunately, these companies that sell to our youths really just care about the money especially in an unstable economy that we are in. These companies will do whatever it takes to sell, and if they can find any advertisements to get to the youths of today they will. It’s nothing but greed, and its not showing the appropriate style to our youths. And I agree 100% percent with how the parents need to stop buying theses articles of clothing to their children that make them look unsuitable for their ages. If this trend continues, I do fear on what it’s going to look like in the future.
ReplyDeleteAdvertising directed towards (pre)teens is a craAaAaAZzZy psychological game. Frankly, it bothers the hell out of me, which is why I sort of cringe thinking about pointing the finger at parents. What is a person to do when their younster is yanking and pulling at their leg for a new outfit. It's either buy the child what he or she wants or submit yourself to agony and torture for the rest of the day. (As shown by a few statistics in the link at the bottom) Advertisers pour loads of money into commercial ads on t.v. that teens sit and stare at endlessly. It seems to me like they want us to blame parents. In our reading this week in Affluenza the author(s) explain "The Chilren's Marketing Explosion" stating that "from 1980 to 2004 the amount spent on children's advertising in America rose from $100 million to $15 billion a year."(p.55) I don't care how you look at that statistic, these advertisers are borderline creeps. Even, If a parent is somehow able to fight through the nagging, pre-teens and young teenagers can sometimes find ways to buy products themselves. Marketing is biggest element and I agree with what Stephen is saying about how it is about the money only.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.globalissues.org/article/237/children-as-consumers
Everyone is consumed by the desire of owning something. The tradition Saturday Morning blocks of CBS, FOX, ABC, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network has always showed commercials of kids playing with toys. As a kid of the 90s, I was jealous of the kids in the commercials that played with the new Transformer or GI Joe toy. Advertisers must’ve made a fortune with the money parents’ sacrificed to get their screaming brat a toy that they are not going to play with when they get older. This form of marketing is never going to get old; it’s going to stay the age.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Rizzo section 80
I totally agree that its wrong that companies are targeting younger aged children to increase profitability. Take for example, clothing companies are selling padded bras for young children, who haven't even gone through puberty. By selling these to younger children, they are allowing children at a younger age to identify themselves sexually appealing. This creates significant implications physically, mentally, and a child's self esteem.
ReplyDeleteYour call for needed change in our cultures marketing strategies is right on. It seems to me that we have no moral filters or ethics when it comes to marketing. So much of our outlook on the world and perhaps our moral foundations could stem form the same advertising that manipulates us into buying products we do not truly need. I do not want to get "preachy" or political about anything but I have noticed that the advertising industries in this country and perhaps the world have no shame. Historical research may tell me otherwise, but judging by the inappropriate clothing being marketed to younger and younger children seems to tell me that there is some truth there.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with you. Tweens are constantly searching for acceptance and are being taught that by wearing the right clothing they will fit in. I remember a few years ago when Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch were in style. If you didn't buy your clothes from one of those stores you weren't cool. Not too long after that, you could walk into a mall and find an Abercrombie store which was the younger version of A&F. The advertisers went from targeting high school aged kids to targeting preteens and tweens in general. At a time when they are so vulnerable, they are bombarded with media that says they need to wear certain clothes or listen to certain music to fit in.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree completely that the clothing the that most of today’s youth is wearing seems a bit shocking I think it seems unfair to place all of the blame on media. Media might influence what these kids desire to wear but at the end of the day the majority of them aren’t buying their clothes, the parents are. I feel like parents get let off the hook a little too easily today, its always society or cultures fault but where are these parents laying down any ground rules? Not to say that your article did not bring up some major pitfalls in society. I completely agree with you on media having a negative impact on how tweens view themselves. However, I think that parents need to take back control of what they let there kids leave the house in. I personally have very laid back parents but that’s not to say there weren’t a few battles throughout my youth over my outfit choices. One valid lesson my mom ingrained in my brain was, “just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” I think today’s youth needs to learn that just because you can look like a 21 year-old when in actuality you’re 13 doesn’t mean you should.
ReplyDeleteKara Kiensicki (01)
If American corporations suddenly become socially responsible for their advertising, society will still complain. Right-wing conservatives, who currently complain about the corruption of their youth through marketing and demand change, will be replaced by left-wing liberals, who believe that it's not a corporation's decision, and that "freedom of speech" has been violated.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, what consumers buy, and how advertisers market, comes down to how much attention we give to the ad and its product. We need to take responsibility for our own actions and stop blaming corporations for everything. Advertising may be manipulative, but if we want to, we can control our own consumption habits. Children learn through example, and if they see that we don’t need everything we see advertised, then they’ll ultimately follow our lead, and that will send a stronger message to advertising executives.
You posted an excellent article with lots of thought inducing points. Unfortunately for our society, as soon as corporations see dollar signs, their moral judgements are no longer prevalent. They know who to target and how in order to produce the highest profit. It is up to us as a society to make changes. Corporations play off the media (movies, tv, etc) and together they are an extremely powerful and influencial force. It is up to the individual person and how they were raised to really choose what they are going to "buy" into. It is very hard to change a young impressionable persons mind when they have already bought into what they see on tv and from their peers.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your blog and you make some really good points. I actually also addressed some of these points in the first writing assignment, ex. influencing children and potentially escalating the amount of bullying. I do not agree with children being targeted the way they are in today’s society and I agree that it is morally wrong for big corporations to continue this cycle. There is an overwhelming amount of bullying that is going on in schools I think that can tie in to the way that products and sex appeal as well as body image and beauty is being portrayed. Like Kara said in here response, it is at the end of the day up to the parent to condone these revealing outfits and choices, but children are ultimately influenced by their peers and the search for acceptance. Thus, they do everything they can to fit in with the “cool crowd” to avoid being bullied themselves. Some parents can’t afford to spend a couple hundred bucks on a pair of ugg boots for their child, in result because of our label conscious society, many times these kids are labeled and singled out for not wearing the current hot trend. Today 12 year old girls look like they’re 18 and products that shouldn’t be marketed towards young girls are especially. What 12 year old really has to wear makeup or show off her body by wearing clothes that enhance things they shouldn’t have or even be showing till they are adults? This targeting, like you said, is helping to develop insecurities in our youth as well as sending the message that beauty is only skin deep.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. Like Ashley mentioned above, you commented on some of the points I brought up in my first writing assignment. The media has the power to shape the self-esteem of its audience. Unfortunately the underlying messages children, teens, and adults often receive are negative and superficial. Like Blaszczyk mentions, the media propagates the idea that physical beauty equates to happiness. Adults with a secure sense of self can look past this marketing but impressionable children can't. This will lead children to become highly insecure and disproportionately value physical attractiveness.
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