From American Girl Dolls to the Pussycat Dolls.

Obviously I have an issue with marketing to children, its extent and effect. But in order to give this some perspective, a jog through the past is necessary….

Marketing to this specific niche has existed since the word teenager was coined by Madison Avenue in 1941, in order to define the new marketable group of youths. And since this time it has constantly evolved.

According to the scholar Lynn Spigel, American children first became a target audience in the late 1950’s. She even sites one example of the first (terribly undisguised) attempts of advertisers to reach parents. “Your daughter won’t ever tell you the humiliation she’s felt in begging those precious hours of television from a neighbor.” Yeah right—but it worked.

Today we rest in Generation Y, a term that describes those born between 1979 and 1995. According to Alissa Quart in her book, Branded, “(This generation) dreams in Hi-definition and Sony sound. Their signs and wonders are the bright logos that line the avenues and shopping malls.” ICK.

Well, back to the past-- I wasn’t around in the 60’s but I think it is safe to say that, for teenagers, it was a time of rebellion, of individuality and free expression. Anyone notice that it has done a 180? Today it is cooler to be like everyone else. In my high school it was all about Abercrombie and Fitch, if you didn’t own anything from there you were looked down upon. It is cool to “be a brand.” Girls especially define themselves as such, “Oh I am such a, ‘insert popular brand!’”

I understand that when we are young we all brand our self, but kids are using clothes to define themselves. Check out the kids drenched in brand-name merchandise, they are usually the ones who are slightly awkward, maybe a little overweight and not conventionally pretty. “While many teenagers are branded,” says Quart, “the ones most obsessed with brand names feel they have a lack that only super branding will cover over and insure against social ruin.”

Well times do change, societal structures and moral foundations shift from under us, but I do think that our progressive view of “the now” should still hold itself to some of the values of the past.