Two books from the long reading list were very
similar in theme:
Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches
from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein
Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our
Daughters from Marketer's Schemes by Sharon Lamb
Both were about the marketing that is done to young
girls, preparing them to constantly be buying goods and services.
Packing was much
longer, so had more information on types of merchandising. Even for relatively
young girls there are lifestyle magazines and novels that are actually
catalogs, and many toys have web components that provide the opportunity for
more brand association and more shopping.
(I'm sure parents of
young girls have a much better idea already.)
Packaging was also more
scholarly, which has value, but Cinderella is a much
shorter and more engaging read. Both pay attention to the psychological
effects, though I think Orenstein has a better grasp. Neither was able to offer
much in the way of solutions than awareness: know about this, discuss it
sometimes, but they are still going to want these products.
Although we have not
covered them yet, when we get to The Feminine Mystique and The Beauty Myth, those also have a lot to do with marketing,
so there are ways in which they all go together. I am also more aware now of
how consumerism is incompatible with environmentalism. It is hard changing
things that systemic, so it's a concern.
But the point I will
leave with today - I think it came from Orenstein - is a claim that the focus
on dieting and weight loss started around the turn of the century. Previously
preachers had tended to focus on greed, but as many people were doing really
well financially, that became less safe to condemn. Gluttony was also a deadly
sin, and about taking more than your share, so it made a good substitute.
That indicates that
before, people thought of body size as more like height or hair color - maybe
some variations were more popular, but there wasn't pressure to change it.
Now there are many products
and services designed to help you change your body size, but it is still almost
as difficult to change as your height. (At least changing hair color has gotten
much easier.)
The almost guaranteed
failure of the products combined with the likelihood of the consumer blaming
herself makes it an almost perfect business. Yes, you have to make your
offering more attractive than the many competing offerings, but there is still
a strongly motivated market.
There are plenty of
problems with that, but it's interesting to think that it could have all
started as a dodge for ignoring the destructive behavior of capitalists right
around that time that "robber barons" and "gilded age" were
entering the lexicon.
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