Tweeneis are a gold in advertising land. They are young, and uninformed as yet about the world of advertising. They are aware of shops and shopping, but do not have the skills to balance a budget or make fully informed buying decisions. They come from any social demographic, but they have one thing in common; they are the 'next' generation. They are six to 13 years old. Not yet a teenager, but dragged rpaildy away from their childhood period. Whereas 'childhood' used to extend happily from the post tollder stage right through to adolescence, now there is a new stage, created mostly by the mixed blessings of our consumer age. The 'tweenie' is not a child, but also not yet a teenager.
Advertisers know that tweenies are a special group. As a collective, they have masive buying power. Individually, they have the power to dictate household spending, particularly on discretionary items like clothing and activities, but also on daily products such as foods, drinks and groceries.
Advertisers target tweeneis because they know they are susceptible to advertising messages. They respond to triggers in advertising, and are already beginning to show traits previously associated with adolescents. They are becoming brand savvy, and making choices based at least partly on image, appearance of items and brand names. They believe in upgrading and replacing items in line with trends, and they move rapidly from one purchasing desire to another.
Tweenies are particularly interesting around Christmas and Easter, as they can be easily coaxed into holding a desire for the latest and greatest toy, game, clothing item, music, piece of technology or food. At these times of year, there is a trend to highly visual, colorful, muscial advertising which has strong appeal to a young audience.
Schools can help support tweenies in a number of ways. Encourage young children to stay just that - young. Avoid focussing conversations on brands, trends, the 'latest' of a particular item, or TV shows. Focus instead on the simple things in life which can give pleasure, such as making a card or present, havng a face to face conversation, singing a song with a friend, or playing a game out of doors.
Teach children about advertising, with an emphasis on how it works, and the principles which underpin it. These include:
- explaining that advertising is deliberate
- that advertising does not constitute an instruction; there is no requirement to buy a product because an advertisment tells us to
- that advertising works on the principle of 'AIDA' - attention, interest, desire, action - catch attention, promote interest, make the reader/viewer desire the product and prompt an action on their part (usually buying the product)
Useful school resources include:
fact pages from consumer protection sources to copy into the school newsletter (after seeking copyright permission)
collections of examples of advertising which targets children (watch for copyright permission here though - check your copyright laws in your area)
'Reading the Media' by Anne Vize (Curriculum Corporation www.curriculum.edu.au)