11. ‘Tweenagers’ and the commercialisation of childhood PDF

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Summary and notes on chapter 11 from the study book. ...

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11. ‘Tweenagers’ and the commercialisation of childhood Mary Jane Kehily

Developments in new technology have further increased the range of products available to children. This chapter will explore the commercial world that surrounds contemporary childhoods and the ways in which children interact with the world of commercial goods and products.

What is commercialisation? Commercialisation refers to the process by which goods, needs, desires and people come to be incorporated into the process of buying and selling and the changes in them that result. It is a term derived from the world of marketing and commerce. - Commercialisation is now commonly understood to mean the process of turning goods and services into commodities to be bought and sold. This chapter considers adult cancers that children may be exploited by overexposure to the commercial world; but it also provides more celebratory count of how children invest products with meaning, using them as resources to define themselves and to establish hierarchies of power and status.

Children as consumers In economic terms children and young people are an important and influential consumer group. From the point of view on manufacturers and advertisers, children and teenagers are seen in the following terms, as: - a primary market in their own right; - an influential market given their influence on parental household purchase; - a market for the future of all nations; - A particular demographic segment; - A specific life-cycle segment according to the same criteria as their parents. (Gunter and Furnham 1998, p.3) Key points: - children and young people constitute an important and influential consumer group. - Manufacturers and marketing and advertising agencies devise strategies to tap into the lucrative child and youth markets. - The experience of childhood in the west is saturated by the commercial world.

40,000 Disney princesses: commercialisation as a negative force

- The idea that children are tainted by the commercial world is widespread in policy documents, independent reports, media commentary and the campaigning activities of lobby groups.

- The ‘teenager’ can be seen as an example of how the market works to appeal to children, arousing adult fears and concerns about the influence of the market.

- The retailing of girls’ clothing has been associated with early sexualisation, with negative consequences such as gender stereo typing, los self-esteem and body image issues.

- Sexual themes and consumer practises have a presence in tween culture, suggesting that preteenage girls may be active, knowing and sexually aware subjects.

Commercialisation as a potentially positive force

- children develop an interactive relationship with commercial world that can potentially be empowering.

- Marketers define tweenagers as having and as being influential consumers aged between 8-14. - Marketers and market practisers describe to tweens a generational identify and an attitude to life that extends beyond engagement with consumer culture.

Talking to children and young people

- children do not necessarily define themselves in relation to market -oriented categories such as ‘tween’.

- Different adult and child perspectives produce different ways of making sense of commercialisation, sexualisation and violence.

- Children’s and young people’s consumption is mediated by social context, particularly the influence of family and peers.

Conclusion This chapter has considered children and young people’s active engagement with the commercial world. Taking the concept of the teenager as an example of the relationship between childhood and commercialisation, the chapter has highlighted about fears in relation to this age group. While premature sexualisation and violence emerge as concerns for girls and boys respectively, an alternative way of looking suggests that the commercial world can potentially be empowering for children, as it takes their desires cultural worlds of boys and girls, it is clear that what they buy and their attitudes to spending and consumption, are related to the practises of the peer group and the way members of the group define themselves in relation to other children. Parental influence and school may also feature in this work, making the commercialisation of childhood a complicated affair that cannot be reduced to ‘peer pressure’, ‘pester power’ or an overactive market....