Super, Super Spa Day!

"We're normal teenagers -- except we travel more and we run a company." -Mary-Kate Olsen



Excerpt from: Tween: The New Advertising Gimic by Jenna Doscher (2002)

"Television is the marketing weapon of choice. And in order to get the children watching the commercials, you first have to put programming on that is geared towards the adolescent. Hence, Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, two of the most popular cable channels for tweens. Last year, Nickelodeon began its TeeNick lineup on Sunday nights. And at the Disney Channel, you can find a programming block entitled Zoog. The word itself doesn’t mean anything, but it’s zany and irreverent.

Let’s not forget, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the super twins of tween marketing. These girls have been on television since birth. They shared the role of Michelle on “Full House” until they were nine. Then moved on to the show, “Two of a Kind,” and are now in an ABC Family channel (another cable channel geared towards kids) show called, “So Little Time.” These fifteen-year-olds have their own magazine, books, videos, dolls, an endless supply of reruns, even a clothing line at WALMART. With an expected one billion dollars in sales next year of Olsen products, guess who is purchasing this crap, err, I mean products…mainly girls between four and fourteen. What a racket!

Marketing for the tween is just another attempt for advertisers to filter into our lives. Children are easily persuaded and sometimes all it takes is someone on television telling you that need or must have this product."