From MediaPost’s Around the Net in Brand Marketing:

Kids start talking about what they like at age 3 and that’s when you should start marketing to them, Lisa Mancuso, Fisher-Price’s SVP of marketing, tells Vivienne Manning-Schaffel. That’s not to say that mom is out of the equation — of course not, she controls the purse stings — but she doesn’t have a lot of extraneous time or money in this day and age. It’s more efficient to consult with the child and let them make the buying decision in categories that are appropriate, points out Dave Siegel, president of Wonder Group and co-author of Marketing to the New Super Consumer Mom & Kid.

From Amy Jussel’s interview with Jean Kilboune, as they discuss Miley Cyrus’ pole dance at the Teen Choice Awards:

First of all, sexual images aren’t meant to sell our children (or us!) on sex, they’re intended to sell us on shopping. . . . marketing insecurities for profit is nothing new, marketing provocative sayings on childrens’ clothes, skimpy thongs, padded pushup bras, Barbie bustiers and Bratz dolls with cocktails and hot tubs for pre-pubescent kids IS new.

And a Wal-Mart ad, via Claire Mysko: 

Girl version with Mom voiceover: “I can’t go to school with her. I can’t introduce her to new friends.” Cut to girl nervously asking “Can I sit here?” to a group of girls sitting together at lunch. “Sure, I like your top!” one of them answers. “Or tell everyone how amazing she is. But I can give her what she needs to feel good about herself without breaking my budget. All she has to do is be herself.” Cut to smiling girls walking arm-in-arm down the hallway.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 8:55 am and is filed under Child Sexualization, Disney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.