Sunday 15 April 2007

Targeting of the tween market by consumer goods companies is being examined in the press again. I published a rundown of the debate on 16 December. It started with Caroline Overington's story of 11 October in The Australian. Then, in the 4 December issue of The New Yorker, a story about Bratz dolls appeared.

A week or so ago, another story about the Bratz vs. Barbie competition appeared in one of the weekend supplement magazines.

Other stories in the Australian press appeared in the Herald Sun on 10 October, in The Age on 12 December, in the Courier-Mail on 21 March, and in The Age again on 1 April.

There's also a story from U.S.-based Free Republic dating from 4 December 2005.


Now, the Insight program of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), will put to air 'Bratz, Bralettes and Tweens'. With host Jenny Brockie, the program will examine the elements of the phenomenon, which I described as "overt displays of selfhood ... being channelled by capital into a kind of proletarian pornography".

I'll be in class when the program airs, but as they post podcasts of Insight, I'll view it when I get home.

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