Why are we dressing our daughters this way?

Why are we dressing our daughters this way?

Response:

     Social justice articles oftentimes provide valuable commentary on a perceived social issue, but also tend to suffer from an overwhelming bias from one side or the other. In this specific case, it references the increasingly sexualized nature of marketing, specifically towards little girls. While the article does have its merits, there are some things that must be addressed.

      First off, the article certainly does seem to overdramatize aspects of modern culture. It paints a picture of morally depraved, perverted marketers taking advantage of a helpless public, attempting to fight them off, when this is certainly not the case. In everyday life, such advertising is nowhere near as ubiquitous and forced upon the average consumer. Consumers are becoming increasingly free to make their own choices with the rise of on-demand entertainment in lieu of cable programming, being able to choose what they want to see and when they want to see it. The examples presented within the article are also compose a very small fraction of the overall child market. While they may draw outrage and press coverage, the overall youth culture is seldom impacted. All in all, picture of the brainwashing scheme that the article paints is hardly congruous with reality. This cannot be stressed enough, as it affects the rest of the analysis of the article.

      The second thing is the implicit demonizing of advertisers. Rather than an orchestrated plan to prey on little girls, these marketing activities seem to be a natural by-product of a capitalist, free-market system. Within a system such as this, companies capitalize on social trends, largely determined by the population, in order to be able to maximize returns. If the social demand is non-existent, there would be no incentive for marketers to utilize it either. Such is the case for the “preying” on little girls – companies are simply adapting to the social landscape to fill market niches. The act of banning this kind of advertising puts us in a very dangerous position of free speech as well. It is fine for it to be ridiculed by the public, but making any expression of speech illegal, on the basis of a subjective moral measure, goes against the very concept of a free society.

      It is no secret that sex sells – It’s a fact used by many companies. And it is true that females are more often portrayed in these instances: males are, on average, much more susceptible to these ads influences. However, just like how it is the author’s right to express her feelings about these stunts, it is also the companies’ rights to exercise their freedom of speech, however deviant they may be. Such is the beauty of a marketplace of ideas: their values will be determined by the masses of people, and not by the influence of a few corporations.