Tween In The Media

In the article, “The Teening of Childhood” by Kay Hymowitz, she discusses what age group media is aiming towards and what steps they take to get the tween’s attention. A tween is in the age group between eight to twelve. They are just beginning to figure out who they are and want to be when they grow up, so they are experiencing many changes in their lives. The media aim their advertisements toward the pre-teen age group because tweens want to be like the “cooler”, older kids. If the media shows the tweens what the older kids have that is making them “cool”, the tweens are going to want to have it no matter what it is. Despite the adolescence being precocious, media is depriving tweens of their childhood. Today’s society is affecting teens in many ways, but electronics are one of the most dominant ways. Most pre-teens are just receiving their first cellular phone, and they are usually excited to see what it can do and who they can text. Many cell phones today have internet access, …show more content…
Companies believe that spending that little extra money to capture a pre-teens attention is well worth it. Stated in, “Tweens’ Knowledge of Marketing Tactics Skeptical Beyond Their Years”, “Estimates suggested that marketers spend more than $17 billion in their attempts to influence more than $150 billion in annual spending attributable to children and preteen” (Freeman & Shapiro, 2014, p. 2). Companies are spending more money towards the pre-teen age group on advertisement because they know that tweens are more vulnerable to spend their money on the products. Tweens are in the age group where they want to go to the mall with their friends and hang out and when they go to the mall they are going to be tempted to buy something they like. If the tweens saw the product on the television and try it out, they may come to realize that they actually do enjoy the product, so they decide to buy but the company’s