Nine-year-old Noah Cyrus? Had anyone actually heard of her until a tidal wave of righteous indignation engulfed the recent launch of her clothing range?

Miley Cyrus’ (of Hannah Montana fame) kid sister and her parents allegedly signalled clear clothing line intent at a Halloween party last year when Noah appeared decked out in a black lace-up mini dress with matching PVC knee-high boots. Some heavy make-up and bright red lipstick complemented the outfit, leading to some commentators to coin the word ‘prostitot’ to describe her look. Remember, the kid is nine-years-old.

Far from being lauded as an entrepreneurial prodigy, Noah and her parents have become the latest lightning rods for those who blame marketing for the premature sexualisation of children, particularly young girls.

It would be all too easy to dismiss these pre-pubescent beauty queens as some sort of irrelevant Americana freak shows but that would belittle the considerable influence celebrities (manufactured or otherwise) have in marketing products. Time magazine last year named big sis Miley Cyrus among its 100 most influential people on the planet.

Targeting the tween influencers
Tweens have traditionally been classified as pre-teens from eight years up. These young ones have left Dora the Explorer behind and are starting to identify more with, gulp, Lindsay Lohan. No longer small children, tweens are starting to develop their own sense of identity and there is a lot of money to be made by tapping into their search for identity.

Children – particularly young girls – as young as six now seem to be fair game for marketing techniques focused on beauty, sexuality, relationships, and consumerism. Unlike many of their parents, tweens have never had to learn about computers and the Internet has always been here. Social networking is a natural part of their lives and a popular way for advertisers to reach them.

When it comes to viral marketing, some of the techniques employed by marketing experts to target tweens are nothing short of insidious. A Los Angeles firm GIA – short for Girls Intelligence Agency (www.girlgames.com) has registered up to 50,000 eight-year-old “secret agents” to influence their friends to buy certain products, such as mobile phones, clothes and beauty products. The girls who receive the products from GIA client companies are chosen for their persuasive personalities – alpha females or tween queens – whom their friends will want to be like.

“Her peers trust her opinion … We have to approve them. You know, important strategic business decisions are being made off of this eight-year-old and her friends, so we have to make sure she’s the right one,” said GIA CEO Laura Groppe, who estimates the global tween market is worth $335 billion.

The whole idea, Groppe says, is “seeding the market with these girls and their close crew of friends, and getting that information (about their preferences) back to the client and, at the same time, these girls are feeling it’s a privilege … to share this among their peers.”

This is a long way from a product endorsement by girl next door Hannah Montana, replete with baggy jeans and checked shirts.

Parent power vs. pester power
Marketing to tweens is a minefield and some executives seem hell-bent on self-destruction by ignoring the salient point that parent power will always triumph over pester power.

Wholesome Hannah is one thing, slutty Noah quite another. Regardless of who tweens want to emulate, parents of this age group will still have the final say when it comes to purchase. It is highly unlikely that little would-be Noahs’ will be strutting their stuff across Ireland. Even if they could afford the gear, tweens, unlike their elder teen siblings, cannot change in the car on the way to the party.

Parental concern for their children’s welfare will win every time. Marketing to tweens means keeping parents onside. Even Miley Cyrus is having trouble developing her post-Hannah career.

Look at the hordes of mostly early teen and tween girls who dragged their mothers to the sold-out Miley Cyrus concerts at the 02 last year.  Miley traded on her Hannah Montana persona to sell tickets but served up a raunchy set that had jaws dropping and media phone lines hopping as irate mothers vented their anger at the inappropriate nature of the performance.

As Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus may have made the Time magazine list but it is the nature of Disney’s Hannah Montana character that is influential, not Miley herself.

Marketers should remember that tweens don’t hold the purse-strings. If they want to tap a lucrative tween audience, they will have to keep responsible adults happy too.

Margaret E. Ward is a journalist and managing director of Clear Ink, the clear English specialists. Her daughter is a tween.
www.clearink.ie

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