Without phones, or email, or actually wires of any sort:
Today, cosmetic companies and retailers increasingly aim their
sophisticated products and service packages squarely at 6- to
9-year-olds, who are being transformed into savvy beauty consumers
before they’re out of elementary school.
The full, depressing article is here.
What’s more depressing is the use of “mani’s, pedi’s…” with the apostrophe s. Are they using the ‘s as a contraction? Because that makes no sense to me, gramatically.
On topic. That is perhaps the saddest, most dis-heartening story I’ve read all day. It’s depressing to think that my parents (who have custody of my niece, who is 10) and Auntie Lor can control only so much of her consumption of tv and media.
We can gently nudge her towards the more positive end of the spectrum, and show by example that her looks, though important, are but one thing that makes up the whole. Having the brains, and the street smarts, and polite manners would put her way ahead of her peers (and are a thousand times more attractive than perfect nails and a fully coordinated outfit.)
But all those lessons are undercut by marketing giants who think that it’s absolutely ok to teach girls to grow up wanting nothing more than to be a vapid clothes-horse (oh, and please leave your brains and your personality behind.)
That picture is disturbing on so many levels, none the least of which is what it says about class divisions.