Marketing to girls: pink stinks. Really?

“You need to buy me a new jacket.”
“Why? It still fits you. There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“It’s too girly.”

Actual conversation between my daughter and me last week.

She’s 7.

And then there’s this Time magazine article Not So Pretty in Pink: Are Girls' Toys Too Girly? about two London moms who recently launched the advocacy group Pinkstinks, which they hope will "spark a shift in a popular culture that they say puts girls "into a pretty little box" from birth, offering them toys that emphasize the importance of looking good and being feminine, while the boys are allowed to go exploring and get dirty."

Which is fine… I suppose, if it weren’t such a tired feminist argument that really has nothing to do with consumer marketing, gender inequality or unfair stereotypes.

Here’s the thing. The reason why all the girl clothes and toys are pink and purple and princess-y is not because the toy and fashion industries are sexist. It’s because that’s what sells. And it’s what the girls want… up until about age 6 or 7. And then it changes. Just go into any major retailer or department store and look at the different sections. Toddler/preschool clothing and toys are extremely segmented by stereotypical gender colors and genres, but merchandise for older kids (ages 7 and up) is not. It's not a conspiracy. It's just plain old market economics.

However, as a feminist and women's college graduate I do know that there are plenty of parents out there who are fed up with the mass merchandise and uninspired consumer products targeting our young children. They want products that are fresh, new and different. As a mother to a daughter who up until a year ago would only wear pink, I also know that it's frustrating to buy clothes or toys that simply don't get used.

The London moms (mums) behind the Pinkstinks campaign have launched a sister website where kids can participate in the discussion.

What do you think?

As the 'real world' gets worse, virtual words get better

If you're like every other adult I know, you're obsessing about the economy right now. Things, um, don't look so great. I've tried to put my head in the sand over the whole debacle, but this recent Forbes article caught my eye: 

"Despite all the doom and gloom, one tiny sector is offering a glimmer of hope: virtual worlds. Companies such as Gaia Interactive and Habbo (targeting tween and teen girls) are expecting a boost as consumers reduce spending on real-word goods and console themselves with so-called virtual goods." 

Really?

At first you might think that this is just another example of how parents are continuing to indulge their children with consumer goods (albeit virtual ones) but the psychology actually runs deeper than that. "As things get worse, people spend more time at movies or spend more time on a site like Gaia Online, which provides a relatively inexpensive respite from the offline world," says Gaia Chief Executive Craig Sherman.

Other kid-targeted virtual worlds like Club Penguin and Neopets have seen similar results. Teen-focused Habbo.com reports that 85% of the site's revenues come from virtual world transactions. This site's 2.5 million U.S. users spend an average of $18 a month on virtual goods and spend nearly 40 minutes on the site.  From a teen perspective, when you compare this to say, a trip to the mall--including the high costs of gasoline, food and premium denim-- well, the virtual world begins to look like a pretty great bargain. 

CosmoGirl's concierge service almost works

In a partnership with NearbyNow, a service that allows consumers to search local store inventory and place items on hold for same-day pick up, CosmoGirl's new concierge service allows readers to shop products they see online or in the magazine and either "find local" or "buy online." It's a great feature (one that is certainly not limited to the teen audience) and appeals to the "gotta have it now" impulses common to some of us shoppers. I mean, when you see a pair of Converse All Star Light sneakers, you don't want them tomorrow, you want them now! Which is why I was slightly disappointed to click on the "find local" button and discover that my only two options were about 40 miles away in either Lakewood, WA or Puyallup, WA. Excuse me, but I live in the city of Seattle, and I should not have to 40 miles to the closest Famous Footwear retailer to get a very popular brand of shoes. Ditto for the shop online option, which took me to just one online retailer, also Famous Footwear.

So, the partnerships have a ways to go, but the functionality is great and I can see how this type of shopping might very well become the wave of the future. Which brings me to my next point: Hearst, the publisher of CosmoGirl, is smart to start with a teen publication in testing out this new technology. They can build a business case, test out new features and build long-term brand awareness relatively risk free-- and that's the beauty of being in the kids business.

PBKids= Perfectly Branded to Moms (and Kids)

Just got the new Pottery Barn Kids catalog in the mail. All I have to say is... wow, good job. The photography, art direction and copy is excellent. I wanted to buy everything. Why? The colors are vibrant and fun, the designs embody just the right mix of classic-meets-kid-friendly, the quality appears to be high, and, perhaps most importantly--as a parent, the brand appeals to me on a emotional, subconcious level. After a long day, I found it soothing to sit down, relax and peruse the catalog in a dreamlike state, much as I would a travel magazine. What if my child's room looked like this? Or what about this? Oh, wait, how cute, look at this. Seeing pictures of perfectly groomed children doing homework on perfectly painted desks--color coordinated with their room decor-- only served to enhance my fantasy. If only I had some Pottery Barn Kids furniture, my life would be more perfect, my kids would certainly be more perfect and of course my home would be clutter free!

This is the power of a strong brand - the ability to tap into emotional issues (or in my case, neurotic tendencies to be a "perfect parent") and connect on a deeper level. And I'm not the only one who found the catalog appealing by the way. My daughter came up to me while I was on the couch and said "Hey, what is that? I want some things out of that catalog!" She went to the kitchen, grabbed a felt-tipped marker and proceeded to flip through the pages, circling everything she wanted. I asked her what it was about the brand that she liked so much and she just shrugged. "I don't know mommy, I just do."

Back to School Retail Report

Youth Trends just released their 2008 Back to School Retail & Shopping Report. No real big surprises here... gas prices are up and the economy is down and therefore retailers such as WalMart and Target can expect to do well, while higher-end retailers won't. But wait - the summary goes on to explain how "the new iPhone 3G is without a doubt the most coveted mobile phone followed by LG's enV, the BlackBerry Curve and the BlackBerry Pearl. Based on the current growth rate, we expect that 32% to 35% of all teens and college students will own a smartphone or multimedia phone by year's end." Wow. At least teens and college students can still afford nice phones. And apparently, fashion as well: "The preppie retailer du jour is J. Crew, which over the past year and half has made a strong comeback with the college audience in particular and we now expect them to do well with teen consumers as well. If Mom and Dad are throwing down the plastic, female shoppers would snap up as many pairs of Tory Burch flats as they can."

Since when did J. Crew and Tory Burch start targeting teens? Never mind. My 15 year-old babysitter currently has 3 Coach bags, wears a lot of Juicy Couture accessories and sends me texts from her Razr. I'm just the one paying to fill up the tank so I can drive her to the mall.