Tween e-shoppers..whats the big deal?

I found this week’s reading to be especially interesting because I have witnessed some of the effects of gendered advertisements online. One of the topics discussed in Instant Identity is about IM advertisements, and IM robots. I have to admit, although it is extremely annoying to have these little boxes popping up all over your screen, the advertisers that place their promotions online are very clever for finding all of these discreet ways to sell their products. Almost any website that you visit on a computer will have an ad located somewhere that you can click to lead to their page. Sometimes you accidentally click the ads and then get frustrated when your browser turns to another page. This technique is not only tricky, but very effective in getting people to notice an ad. This reminds me of another scheme that companies use on the internet to capitalize on human error. I learned this technique from my website designer who helped me make a page for my makeup artistry business. The process is simple: A company owner picks a popular term or phrase that people often search online, such as “celebrity” and they type the word, misspelled, into their website’s browser search engine (which is where you input the words you think people will use when locating your site, in order to make it come up on google). You type the word incorrectly because people very often type one letter incorrectly, and then get a whole new group of search results. Therefore, your website will pop up whenever someone misspells that word, they don’t even have to be looking for your company, but the search engine will lead them to it. For example, I utilized different variations of “Make-up artist in Florida” for my search engine terms. Since I am allowed to use up to 300 words, I misspelled Florida (flrida) in order to catch the consumers that left out one letter.

I do a lot of my shopping online and I must admit to falling victim several times to the clothing that a given website is suggesting I purchase. I feel like the styles portrayed on a catalog’s model are in season and fashion-forward. Only recently did I begin purchasing items online because I am so busy with school and work that it makes it easier for me to skip a visit to the mall and order what I need in the privacy of my own home. This chapter talks about clothing websites targeting a new demographic of teenage girls. Although it may raise some concerns, I think that it is not only harmless, but essential for tween-targeted companies to advertise online. Why should they be left out from internet advertising just because their crowd is not old enough to drive? I believe that tweens shopping online should not raise an eyebrow unless they have their own credit card that they can use to actually buy stuff. In this case, it would be the parent’s fault for giving them such a form of funding. I actually believe that shopping online for tweens may be less dangerous than shopping inside of a mall- where strangers lurk and have access to young children. Although I found this week's reading to be enlightening, I cannot help but ask: Whats the big deal?