Teens and Tweens as Commodities

I knew about Alloy when I was a tween and teen. Like Kathy, I would consider myself a consumer who was more interested in receiving a catalog and didn't engage in more of the interactive aspects that are especially prevalent today. I think I only bought maybe one item from Alloy, but at that time in my life perusing Seventeen and Delia's and Alloy catalogs and going to the websites was a hobby, more or less.

Back then, I thought about sexy clothes as a way to express myself and almost as a right of passage as I was entering a stage where I was "becoming a woman" (which always seemed to be strangely quick and easy-- 'just like that?'). I think I was more concerned about what I was putting on my body . Reading the text now I do see how inorganic and manipulative marketing to teens and tweens really is. I agree with others who see it's business advantage and that Facebook is basically a similar medium but the marketing tries to customize to each profile. I think by presenting this notion of there being nowhere to go but where other women have already been (objectified with sexuality expectations and an emphasis on domestic roles) just because you're growing up, so subtly executed and casually pressured, is very scary. It reminds me of a scene in the movie Minority Report when the main character (Tom Cruise) walks in a metro train station and the advertisements are scanning his retinas and calling him by name to get his attention.

I think the scariest part is how casually gender differences are treated in society. Buying pink toys for girls and   encouraging girls to be consumers because that is "what girls like" is a powerful and bold thing to impose on someone. It allows girls to channel things like emotion and a sense of community into consumerism. Making a store into a magazine is the most effective and most damaging thing AM&M could do. In my opinion, it is definitely a darker side of the virtual world. In fact, I was discussing why Facebook marketing works for everyone when an established and well-liked company like...say... Mama Millie's (Jamaican restaurant near UCF) because instead of being aggressive and manipulative, having to find niche's that pertain to girls' insecurities and desires for belonging, it creates a two-way street. An online bizarre is formed where the community can tell producers and community can exchange feedback and appreciate a sense of role in the community rather than tricking or bombarding someone with what they think they will buy into.

That got rant-y toward the end, but maybe that's a good thing?