madameblogalot

I read this blurb a week or two ago. It reminded me of something my daughter said while we were shopping one day. We walked past a display of Iron Man bed sheets. She said, “That show is rated PG 13. Those sheets are for kids. I mean, teens and adults wouldn’t want them. So they are making those for kids who aren’t even old enough to see the show.”

Now I know that there will be some kids under 13 who do see the show, regardless of the rating. But it brought up an interesting conversation with my daughter about marketing to children. Then reading the article referred to above really gave me pause to think. I mean, honestly, why market Play Boy items to young children.

Then today I read another blurb about Urban Outfitters gearing ads toward teens that some consider to be “soft porn”. It allegedly shows scantily clad to non-clad models with arms placed strategically (I could not find this online, nor do I receive this catalog, so I cannot confirm this.) I am not sure why we as a society have come to find this acceptable. Is it amusement? Is it that “sex sells”? Is it bringing our kids to a place we really want them to be? I had read somewhere that America is still too “uptight” in its thinking of sex and sexuality. Perhaps this is society’s way of helping us to “get over that”? I also read recently that in order to get our minds off of the economic stresses surrounding us, we need to “let off a little steam”, using sex and sexual expression as the means (this was in reference to an economic stimulus package for the porn industry-and I’m not sure if that was a hoax or not.)

At any rate, I don’t like the ardent marketing done toward the younger generation these days. It is the biggest demographic for many marketers. I find that to be worrisome.

I don’t remember where all the sites are where I had read these things, so I could not link to them.