I think that marketers play a large role in our understanding of tweens. Marketers want to make money and are always looking for new ways to sell goods and new demographics to market too. Due to this they are always doing research to find out who is buying what, and what groups have interest in various materials. According to research the tween population is spending about 15 billion a year (Hulbert, 2004). This is a huge amount of money and marketers all want a piece of it. Another article I found by Whitley, also shows the strong buying power that this age group holds. He indicates that “tween purchasing power has opened a window of opportunity for companies seeking fresh revenue streams (Whitley, 2010). Therefore, marketers are willing to put up the money to find out what makes this age group tick; what they like, what they don’t like, where they are hanging out, etc. They are then using this information to directly market to them. The research and marketing then causes us to associate certain products, movies, songs, and websites with this age group. By providing us with all this information about tweens they are directly influencing our perception of this age group.
Hulbert, A. (2004, November). Tweens 'R' Us. New York Times Magazine,6.31. Retrieved December 14, 2009, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 749942491).
Whittley, A. (2010, August). Tiny Power Shopper: Children aged eight to 12 wield outsized economic clout when it comes to cellphones and the virtual world of video games. National Post, F.P.7. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from ProQuest Newstand. (Document ID: 2124837501).
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