Looking out the window and watching the snow circle to the already-white ground invites me to blissfully reminisce about the sense of triumph, giddiness and playfulness last year's snowday created. Like yesterday, I felt like a kid again. And judging by the thousands of Badgers who ran amuck through
the snow-covered streets, I wasn't the only one.
These days, I cherish any opportunity to feel like a kid and live carefree. Yet, those precious sensations are being lost on today's youth, as made clear by Wal-Mart's introduction of GeoGirl, a makeup line with anti-aging agents created for eight to 12-year-old girls. No, that's not a typo—eight to 12 year olds!
Wal-Mart said in a statement they will be offering an eco-friendly, all-natural ""option"" for tween girls curious about wearing makeup. The retailing superstar is not the first to capitalize on various market research findings that conclude young girls are concerned with appearing ""hot."" Wal-Mart's dominating power could accelerate this disturbing trend, demonstrating a true lack of business integrity.
Let's explore this demographic and the scary conclusions made by market research, journalists, children's foundations and academic studies. According to The Week, tween girls, ranging from eight to 12-years-old, have an estimated $2 billion buying power and CNN reports adolescent makeup is a $24 million business.
Just who are these tween beauty queens? They are a group proven to be receptive to environmental messages, reports Good Business. GeoGirl's eco-friendly ingredients and recyclable packaging hit this mark. Tweens are technologically literate, explaining the instant messaging and text-inspired branding for GeoGirl. For example, GeoGirl's lip balm is called J4G, which translates in the cyber world as ""Just 4 Grins."" Concerned about the environment and tech-smart? Those are positive attributes of this generation that should be encouraged, not taken advantage of. Well done, Wal-Mart.
Yet, the most disturbing conclusion about young girls is their desire to be ""sexy."" And this is not a sentiment to be nurtured, despite its profitability.
The trend is called ""sexualization of girls,"" and the American Psychological Association's recent report blames an overwhelming number of sexualized examples of girls in our ""omnipresent"" new-media culture. APA believes this omnipresence forces girls to become obsessed with looking older.
When I asked UW-Madison professor and expert in adolescent health and media, Dr. Megan Moreno, about the negative effects of girls wearing makeup, she said, ""A girl who is 12 but looks 16 may be expected to do things that 16 year olds sometimes do, such as make decisions about alcohol or sex.""
Disney responded to this ""getting older, younger"" trend late last year when they announced the demise of its princess franchise. Dafna Lemish, an expert in the role of media in children's lives, told Los Angeles Times, ""By the time they're five or six, they're not interested in being princesses, they're interested in being hot.""
But an interest in being hot does not always translate to feeling hot. NYU Child Study Center reports that girls'
self-esteem peaks at age nine and then ""takes a nosedive.""
This immediate decline is accompanied by risky eating habits and depression, a likely foundation for developing serious eating disorders. In fact, 10 percent of people with eating disorders report that their disease originally started around age 10, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Eating Disorders.
So, let's cover up girls' problems with cover-up and mask these disturbing trends with mascara? I don't think so.
As a product of the princess generation myself, I used to parade around in puffy dresses, and my idea of applying makeup consisted of slathering glitter all over my body. It is hard for me to imagine wanting to trade in smelling like dirt and watermelon-flavored Smackers for a daily regime of wearing makeup, mascara, blush and adult-smelling body mist.
Today, the line between adulthood and adolescence is being distorted, and tweens are victims of companies' decisions to make money on this distortion. When I asked director of UW-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics, Stephen Ward, about the implications of selling beauty products like GeoGirl, he said makeup for tweens ""reinforces negative images of women … a view of one's body that is not only unrealistic, but undesirable."" He concludes that commercial activity enforcing such negative values to this age group is therefore ethically wrong, and I agree.
I appreciate GeoGirl's promotion of using recyclable materials because it is key for future sustainability. I commend GeoGirl's clever branding with text and instant messaging lingo. But anti-aging makeup is not a product that should be sold to young girls, regardless of the pretty package.
Just because the market is there doesn't mean that a company should exploit it. As future business leaders, advertisers or parents, we should all be aware of this potentially destructive practice.
Melissa Grau is a sophomore majoring in journalism. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
