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SOUNDS OF COUNTRY: Buying America’s Youth

S. E. DURCHOLZ

This article first appeared in the February 27, 2006 issue of The Dubois County Herald. We reprint it here, in its entirety, with the author’s permission.

Do ten-year old girls need black see-through lingerie? It seems the company promoting this new fashion trend for children pulled the advertising on advice of its marketing counseling firm.

The greedy motives of those exploiting the so-called “youth market” are becoming evermore explicit in furthering attitudes and trends aimed at pushing children into adult modes of living and thinking.

A segment on a recent CBS Sunday Morning program featured a group of little girls, from six to ten getting “makeovers.” In the interview, the salon owner who innovated the latest breakthrough in the fashion marketing business, referring to the little girls remarked, “they’ve waited long enough.”

How big is this battle for the minds, hearts and money of young people, that even reaches down to the little ones we normally wouldn’t think of as “young people?”

The Department of Labor says children spend $l billion dollars a day. Children under 12 spend $28 billion annually and teenagers, a total of one hundred billion.

Marketing researchers begin early in building a data base on children’s economic status, zip code indicators, hobbies and entertainment preferences. In recent decades the rapidly expanding electronics industry has greatly enhanced the ability to reach and influence youthful desires and to manipulate attitudes and tastes.

We live in an image-driven world. The young are especially vulnerable to messages projected to their eager and curious senses that say to them, the riches of the material world, that’s what’s really important in life. Go for it, “you’re not a kid anymore.”

The mega-billion dollar youth marketing industry is by inference, saying to students that dedication to study, homework and perseverance in educational goals shouldn’t be your priority. It won’t make you popular. You can only be popular, accepted and feel socially secure if you keep you eyes on brand name clothing, fashion styles and the latest in hot cosmetics.

There seems to be a great deal of reluctance in the debate over the quality of education to recognize the distractions that can compromise the ability of students to stay focused on their education.

Targeted marketing to small children and teenagers seems to ignore the potential negative impact on student concentration, focus and attitudes that may conflict with educational goals.

Psychological manipulation tactics used to generate product acceptance by young people is the same as that used for adult marketing strategies, differing only is specifics

One of the most critical tools is to create a sense of insecurity in the buyer. Just how this is done is the subject of Richard Bodie’s book, “Virus of the mind."

Brodie attempts to explain our usual understanding of the term, “virus,” by observing how popular trends in clothing, speech (new words, slang, derogatory slams) consumer acceptance of certain products seem to spread so quickly through the population.

Brodie contends that the human instincts being acted upon are deeply embedded in human nature from the beginning, but are only now being fully realized as a rich field for manipulation. The author’s analysis offers some insight into why some people are reluctant to make a moral judgment in their unquestioned acceptance of wildly popular forms of entertainment and fashion trends.

Another secret of mass marketing success has been to generate a deep feeling of insecurity on the one hand, and the promise of joy and gratification on the other by acceptance of the product. But there are those who worry about the impact on the physical and mental health of children who are being targeted by the youth market industry.

In a Sept. 8, 2000 published article concerning research into the relationship between advertising and children, child psychologist Dr. Allan D. Kanner said the addictive power of youth targeted advertising exploits the vulnerability of children.

The American Academy of Pediatrics takes a similar view on youth marketing and childhood health.

A Harvard University Medical School announcement of new books published by faculty members for 2004, included a book by Medical Psychologist Susan Linn titled, “Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood.”

In the book, Linn charges that our children are not just consuming, but they are “being consumed.” The Harvard review of Linn’s book says, “Linn argues that their intensive advertising distorts the experience of growing up, reinforcing materialism, entitlement, and unexamined brand loyalty.”

School administrators share some of the responsibility as well. It was something that began as what seemed a logical solution to a shortage of funds. Soft drink companies gained exclusive marketing rights in exchange for money. The idea soon grew into a full-blown corporate marketing dream…….embedding brand loyalty directly into impressive minds right inside the school house.

School buses in some areas of the country became traveling billboards, just like municipal buses. In some schools, companies were granted rights to place floor to ceiling posters for soft drinks and popular clothing brands on the hallway walls.

In one case I read about, in exchange for money, the soft drink company was permitted to paint the company name on the school roof……right under the flight path of a nearby airport.

In the most extreme case, a report that some schools were paid to allow interviews with 10 and 12-year olds for marketing research purposes.