I don’t know about you, but I’m, quite frankly, a little tired of seeing our younger sisters walking down the street, hanging out at our shopping malls and in our school grounds, primary school grounds, that is, looking like their so called idols Britney and Lindsay. They wear tee shirts that scream, ‘Eat me’, ‘My boyfriend’s out of town’ and ‘Totally worth it.’ Unfortunately, tee shirts bearing a slogan such as ‘I Like Books’ don’t sell. Billboards, mobile phones, television and the internet are a few of the ways that advertisers are communicating to impressionable young girls. The problem is that they are communicating to them using overt and hyper sexualised images. Advertisers love a cliche, it seems we do too. Being a sexual object and loving it is being sold to our kids before they even hit puberty. It is simply being sold to them in a new and highly desirable, fun package. It’s time we ask ourselves the question, “Do young girls need to grow up so fast as to claim their sexual power in their Tweens?” Defined by Associate Professor Cele Otnes as “Kids aged 8-12”, or Tweens, as advertisers have termed them, are not quite teenagers but are not kids anymore. Hollywood, along with the major corporations has been marketing to this group for a long time. This group are being targeted through the use of messages that play on the kids’ self-doubt and insecurities. New York University (NYU) Communications Professor, Mark-Crispin Miller, states in the 2001 Frontline documentary, ‘Merchants of Cool’ that “Major corporations study America’s children like lab rats in order to sell them merchandise and corrupt, degrade and tempt them in the process.” Take a trip down your local supermarket in the baby aisle and see Disney princesses emblazoned on nappies for baby girls. American clothing company Abercrombie and Fitch have manufactured a new line of g-strings for 7-year old girls. Yes, imagine your little sister parading around the house in one of those! Is this not just a little offensive? The hypocrisy of our values driven and morally self-righteous society totally conflicts with these immoral and unethical advertising standards. If we live in such conservative times, then why is sex being sold to our children? Unfortunately, advertisers don’t really care, so long as their pockets are being filled. Associate Professor of Psychology, Dr Eileen Zurbriggen, at the University of California (UOC), Santa Cruz, says, “As a society, we need to replace all these sexualised images with ones showing young girls in positive settings and that show the uniqueness and competence of girls.” To do this, we need to take social responsibility. That means our media, advertisers, and corporations. And finally, parents, siblings and friends. By being informed, we can make smarter buying decisions and teach our youth to do the same. Advertisers brainwash kids and their parents. We have become so accustomed and desensitised to girls looking like little animated strippers that we think it’s not normal if they don’t want to wear pink, tease their hair and show their midriffs, all in an innocent way, of course! In fact, advertisers are primping, (or pimping) and pruning our young girls to look and behave a certain way. They are given few choices; be sex puppets or housewives, or both. The Mac and Mattel launch of the Barbie cosmetics line, in 2007, sends this subliminal message to young girls that prepare them for how they should perceive themselves as adults. Plastic and fantastic anyone? Their tagline, ‘For All You Living Dolls’ is actually a deeper and more sinister play on brand building for the two companies involved. The use of Barbie is simply reinforcing a particular gender stereotype. Sure, it could be said that most cosmetic companies use supermodels, and that’s the same thing. In some ways it is, although Barbie is a plastic doll and her image has been ingrained in us since she first came along in 1959. She is etched in our minds from childhood. The new media such as text messaging and the internet are just some of the ways that these Tweens are being targeted. Do they want to be told what to wear and how to behave? In some respects, they do. Advertisers are in tune with this market segment and make it their business to find out what they like and how they behave. This is primarily to sell them more products. Perhaps our children are smarter than we think. After all, our youth are so used to all the messages that advertisers bombard them with daily, that they have become consumer savvy. This may be true to a certain extent, as we will always have select sub-cultures of young girls and boys who will ignore mass commercial culture. What we need to do is to help shift any negative and sexual perceptions of our young children. Teach them to be individuals. Teach them to enjoy being kids because it doesn’t last long! Perhaps we can reclaim some power by buying books for our youth. Dr. Seuss is a good option. The characters are colourful and quirky and will teach children to think outside of conventional borders. ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ is a good choice. It also teaches them about rhythmic patterns. Encourage our youth to pick up an instrument, write poetry, draw pictures and to ask more questions. It will help to fashion them into creative, thinking young people. To use their imagination. And who said that’s not attractive? If only our advertisers would use their imagination and stop using sex to sell an image to our younger sisters and brothers. Not only would society benefit by producing smarter, worldlier, open minded individuals but these Tweens would have a chance to develop their sexuality in a more natural and less obvious way. Bibliography College of Business Communication Feature, October 2002, viewed April 12, 2008 http://www.business.uiuc.edu/publications/Features/2002Tween/index.html Professor, Mark-Crispin Miller, states in the 2001 Frontline documentary, ‘Merchants of Cool’ that “Major corporations…….” , viewed April 12, 2008 http//:www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/interviews/crispinmiller.html “Mac Mattel poised to launch grown up cosmetics line”; Consumer Lab, Alcone Marketing Group, viewed April 12th, 2008 http//:www.consumerlab.wordpress.com/2007/01/08/mac-mattel-to-launch-grownup-barbie-cosmetics/ “Barbie may love Mac, but I don’t”, by Susan Wagner, viewed April 13th, 2008 http:www.blogher.com/ BBC News, “Sexualisatio harms young girls” Tuesday 20 February, 2007 Dr Eileen Zurbriggen states that: “We need to replace…..”, viewed April 13th, 2008 http//:www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6376421.stm Image “You can’t see me’ / Sociology Blogging, January 21, 2007, viewed April 14th, 2008 http://littlej9.wordpress.com/