Alloy biffls!!!!!!

When reading through the assigned readings there was so much talk of Alloy.com and how it was such a big influence in consumerism for teens and tweens that it had become a question of whether it had been a social site fused with shopping. I had to check it out and explore it for myself and I had to admit there was quite a bit to be engulfed in. At first glance, it does seem to be a brilliant marketing tool for companies, like the texts explain however as I read further into the articles It makes me question, what the message behind this glorified magazine is? Sites like Alloy, expose advertisements about the latest gossip, TV shows, popular books that undoubtedly shapes a predictable consumer. However I feel that there is a bit of deception here (like all consumerism) the site claims to target ages 12-24 but majority of its viewers are ages 8-14; also known as tweens. While I can’t argue about the definition or the creation of this word, it describes the transitional period of children questioning and creating an identity. Advertisers and marketing experts are very crafty and while I’m not completely blaming them for taking advantage of their product placements, it seems unfortunate that yet again we’re putting more emphasis on trying to be the ultimate feminine persona. “Much of what they sell are products promising to facilitate the transition from girlhood to womanhood, products that often result in prematurely sexualizing girls. On the other hand, I’m a bit curious as to why parents giving their children so much purchasing power to be able to afford their identity through clothes and accessories and never-ending fads. “Tweens (young people aged 8-14) in particular…spend $51 billion spent of their own money each year and influence an additional $170 billion on them each year….similarly AM+M teens, a third of whom carry a credit card, ‘a force in consumer spending, part of a highly influential $175B consumer market.’” I understand that tweens and teens were once an underrepresented and unrecognized force but its astonishing to see how much teens influence the consumer market. It seems that so much goes into making a "..stylish,.... pop culture savvy and.. boy crazy" Alloyer. Additionally the only benefit from this is that it does seem to close the gender gap between online literacy.Boys are still described as the well to do gender among the two however girls are creating more of a "best friend culture" and with terms like biffl (best friends for life) its no wonder. Tweens have found that space to communicate and flourish but I'm precariously and maybe idealistically asking, can we ever create honest space for young women? It seems all this oversexing communicating is only furthering the ideal stereotype about women and I know we can't pretend to overlook the obvious trends and questions that tailor to a teen's life but I'm starting to think that we don't give enough credit to teens, they wanted to be treated like adults in their six inch heels and modern well to do totes but could they really handle looking at what happens beyond the moment of 21? What plans does she have for herself after prom and what's life like when you pay your first bill? Maybe I'm being a little melodramatic... lol