Photo from AYTM.
Over the past decade, there has been a significant decline in the prevalence of the “tween” demographic. Spanning roughly the ages of 8-12, “tween” is the transitional period between childhood and adolescence. Nowadays, however, children – girls specifically – are pushed right into young adulthood. This is in large part due to the marketing of overpriced and unnecessary cosmetic products and fashion trends onto young children.
Expensive skincare and makeup has become wildly popular with these girls, and the more of these pricey products you own, the “cooler” or more relevant you are. Kids are begging parents to take them to stores like Sephora or Ulta Beauty to hop on the trendy new serums and foundations. This adds onto the rising issue of these children being pushed to appear older than they are. A 10-year-old shouldn’t be wearing a face full of makeup and using hundreds of dollars worth of products for their “nightly routine”.
These girls do not simply want to partake in these trends because they’re harmless fun, despite what the media may make it seem. This is directly a strategy from the companies who sell these products, appealing to an easily influenced demographic with poor impulse control and a desire to fit in.
Brands are shifting their marketing tactics to better appeal to their new targets. Products are more “fun” to use (i.e. Drunk Elephant’s moisturizer pump), and their packaging is more vibrant and colorful. Already, the morals of this are testy at best, but add on that these children have no money or income of their own, and are stealing or begging from their parents? It’s a disgusting cash grab.
Faceless companies are not solely to blame. Social media influencers are paid to advertise products to their audience, which is often made up of these same 8-12 year old girls. Children idolize these influencers. If they say you need a product, you have to go buy it immediately. One child sees another with Drunk Elephant peptide cream, or the Summer Fridays lip balm, and it creates a domino effect where they all desperately want it.
In today’s society, women are expected to maintain youth and beauty, and are shamed for not doing so. Cosmetic companies are now placing this pressure on children, making them think they need things like anti-wrinkle creams or retinol serums to “save their skin early on”. Aging is a natural process, and children should not fear it or be ashamed of their features. Makeup can be an expressive tool, or one for special occasions when you want to dress up a bit, but it has now become used to manipulate young girls into developing consumerism addictions before they even reach adolescence.
This has all combined to create a horrifying gap between the traditional childhoods that we and our parents remember and the dystopian, consumerist versions of them which exist today.
A new trend has spiked from the end of 2023 through the beginning of 2024. However, this trend might just have caused the death of the tween age range. Expensive skincare and makeup have become wildly popular amongst young kids between the ages of eight and 13. Kids are rushing to their local stores like Sephora and Ulta Beauty to hop on the trendy new serums and foundations. This is a rising issue, kids are trying to appear older than they are. 10-year-olds are wearing full faces of makeup and using 20-something serums on their face for their nightly “get ready with me” TikToks. Young kids are wearing less “age-appropriate” clothes, and instead are wearing crop tops and short shorts. Seeing young girls trying to grow up faster is breaking the hearts of teenage girls all over the world. Older girls are starting to wear bows and frilly dresses to try and relive the childhood that many of them did not have. However, with the rise of children purchasing expensive beauty products, brands have started to shift their marketing tactics to appeal to their new target demographic. They have started making their products more “fun” to use (i.e. Drunk Elephant’s moisturizer pump) and their packaging more vibrant and colorful. Children are trying to “save their skin early on” by using anti-wrinkle creams and retinol serums, which all circles back to the societal pressure placed on women. In today’s society, women aren’t allowed to visibly age or else they’re shamed, which is an awful thing. This pressure is being placed on children now, which is causing them to jump to teenhood far earlier than they should. Don’t forget to remind your children to not be ashamed of their features, and that aging is a beautiful thing! Not only are they trying to appear more mature, but some kids are exposing themselves to the internet far too young. “Get ready with me” TikToks have become so popular, that children are broadcasting themselves using all of these skincare and makeup products, which makes other kids want to do it as well, which causes a domino effect to take place. One kid sees another kid with the Drunk Elephant peptide cream, or the Summer Fridays lip balm, and they suddenly have to have it as well. It just widens the gap between traditional childhoods and what they have become today. Remember, kids, if you can’t read the labels on the backs of products, you probably don’t need it!