Certainly, fawning coverage
of the birth didn’t help clarify
things for young fans. One tabloid
cover featured a glowing picture
of the teenage Spears cuddling
with her daughter, calling motherhood “the best feeling in the
world.” Parents are still the main
influence on their daughters, but
kids have got to be confused
when they’re bombarded with
contradictory messages.
Marketing
Madness
If teen idols are a trap for young
girls, it’s partly because their
princess obsession laid the
groundwork. In 2007 sales of
Disney princess products totaled
$4 billion. “To parents, the princesses seem relatively wholesome,” says Levin, “but they do
convey the message that you
should spend a lot of time, energy and money on looking
And now teen idols are also prime paparazzi pretty.” What’s more insidious is the way girls
fodder. As their personal slipups are relentlessly use them. “Give a girl a princess-type doll and
captured and widely publicized, even their littlest she often doesn’t invent ways to play with it,”
fan’s consciousness is being raised in ways her says Levin. “Instead, she’ll act out a fairy tale
parents hoped wouldn’t happen for years. Donna script, having learned that the princess should be
Miller of Summit, New Jersey, faced this recently. beautiful and seductive and catch the prince.”
Her daughter Lucie, 8, loves the show Zoey 101, The more time a girl plays this way, the more
whose star, Jamie Lynn Spears (Britney’s sis), she’ll focus on looks and coquettish behavior,
gave birth earlier this year at 17. “I tried to ex- and the less time she’ll spend doing the open-plain what was wrong with the whole situation,” ended activities kids need. “It puts girls on a con-says Donna. “Lucie’s answer was, ‘But she and veyor belt to early sexualization,” Levin says.
her boyfriend love each other, and you said love And merchandizing linked to girls’ idols
doesn’t stop with dolls. According to
Parents are still the main influence a report by the NPD Group, girls 8 to
12 years old now spend $500 million
on their daughters, but kids have a year on beauty products of all kinds,
including those endorsed by their
got to be confused when bombarded idols. Then there are the flirty fashions. “Where are the age-appropriate
with contradictory messages. clothes?” asks Marie Ortiz of San Antonio, mom of 8-year-old Karina. “Even
the kids’ fashions at mass retailers look
like they’re for mini Paris Hiltons.” It’s a coast-to-coast lament as mothers of girls shop among
racks of child-size swimsuits with padded chests
and slinky underwear for 8-year-olds.
is important!’ I think I communicated our family
values about sex and babies in a way that didn’t
confuse Lucie. But she’s so young. I’m not sure
she understood all the nuances.”
