Shopping and Advertising

“The quickest way to know a woman is to go shopping with her.”

Think about money. Everyone knows that a $100 bill is worth a hundred times more than a $1 bill. But why? The two bills are the same size, shape, and color. It just so happens that one of them has a different number in the corner. That’s the only difference!

Money is a game of make-believe. We all pretend that money is actually worth something. We put different numbers in the corners of pieces of paper to show how much they’re worth. So what! We take our little pieces of paper (cash) or plastic (credit or debit cards) and act like they are actually worth something. But it’s really just paper and plastic. The only value they have is in our minds.

But even though it’s only make-believe, people devote a lot of time to money. Earning it, saving it, spending it, watching it, and worrying about it . . . many adults spend most of their time dealing with money! Have they forgotten it’s not real? When adults get too caught up in money, this is what’s called the Rat Race. (And the only ones who win that race are rats!)

Shopping

Girls love to shop! You’re already good at it, but now it’s time to get better.

Shop Smart

Girls usually spend most of their money on clothing, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, knickknacks, and high-tech items (such as cell phones or iPods). So how can you be a smart shopper and make sure not to waste your money?

1. Why do you want it? Shopping is not always logical. Sometimes you just want something because you want it. But can you figure out why you want it? Is it really cool, or is it just because everyone else has it?

2. If you want to buy something, can you make yourself wait a little? Try leaving the store, and then shop around to make sure there’s not a better deal at another store. (This also will help you decide if you really want something.)

3. Does the item you want seem like it’s at a fair price? Stores won’t necessarily charge you a fair price. They will charge the amount people are willing to pay. This is called “charging what the market will bear.” Name-brand items and “in” products usually cost more, because stores can get away with charging more.

Let’s say that you want a new shirt. If you buy it new at a store, you are probably paying twice as much as the store paid the shirt maker. And if you’re buying jewelry, the store’s markup is even worse! So is it a rip-off? (As long as you’re wondering about this, you’re a step ahead of most people.)

They’re Watching You! By charting where girls shop inside of stores, researchers have learned that girls spend most of their time on the right side of the stores they go into.

The Busiest Shopping Days of the Year! The two weekends before December 25th are the busiest shopping days of the year. The day after Thanksgiving is the fifth most popular.

If you do some comparison shopping online, you can probably find the best deals. Even with shipping costs, you may choose to have an item mailed to your house, because it’s cheaper AND it saves you a trip to the store. And if you really want to save money . . .

High-Tech

You’re the expert. Your parents may not even have had phones when they were growing up, and if they had computers, it was something like an abacus with an electric plug. A portable music device was a kazoo, not an iPod. Since you are probably more of an expert on electronic gadgets than most adults, use your wisdom wisely.

Are Your Eyes Sensitive? Teenage girls buy twice as many sunglasses as boys do. (Maybe this is because sunglasses make your eyes seem big, and they help you hide from the paparazzi.)

Wacky Product Warnings

It’s good that companies include safety information with their products. But some companies are so worried about safety (and getting sued), that their product warnings can get a little ridiculous. A group called Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch has a contest to find the nation’s “wackiest” directions. Read the product warnings below and ask yourself: Is the company incredibly stupid or do they think we are? All the warnings are taken from real products!

On a folding baby stroller: “Remove child before folding.”

On a toilet brush: “Do not use for personal hygiene.”

On a TV remote control: “Not dishwasher safe.”

On a scooter: “This product moves when used.”

On a CD player: “Warning—dangerous warning inside.”

On a thermometer used to take a person’s temperature: “Once used rectally, the thermometer should not be used orally.”

On a wheelbarrow: “Not intended for highway use.”

On a blender: “Never remove food or other items from the blades while the product is operating.”

On a nine-by-three-inch plastic bag of air used for packing: “Do not use this product as a toy, pillow, or flotation device.”

On a robotic massage chair: “Do not use massage chair without clothing . . . and, never force any body part into the backrest area while the rollers are moving.”

On a snowblower: “Do not use snowthrower on roof.”

On a dishwasher: “Do not allow children to play in the dishwasher.”

On a three-pronged fishhook: “Harmful if swallowed.”

On a bottle of drain cleaner: “If you do not understand, or cannot read, all directions, cautions, and warnings, do not use this product.”

On a smoke detector: “Do not use the Silence Feature in emergency situations. It will not extinguish a fire.”

On a can of pepper spray: “May irritate eyes.”

Advertising

	“Imagine a mousetrap set up with a piece of cheese. The TV ads are the trap, the programs are the cheese, and you are the mouse.”
	—Shari Graydon

Ads are supposed to persuade a girl to spend her money. And advertisers are really smart. As a matter of fact, they think they are smarter than you! Even though advertisers know that girls don’t have as much money as adults, they try extra hard to sell things to girls.

That’s because girls do a lot of shopping. American girls will spend over $100 billion next year. And amazingly, 76 percent of teenage girls go to the mall for about four hours a week. So the odds are pretty high that a girl will soon be in a spot where she can buy something.

The advertisers do their research, and they know that most girls are impatient. If a girl wants something, she often just goes out and gets it, sometimes without waiting to see if she really needs it. This is called an impulse buy.

So basically, advertisers think girls are suckers. An ad executive who specializes in selling clothing to girls put it this way: “The key to selling our product is to make the teenaged girl feel that she will be a loser without it.” L So if an ad makes you believe that you won’t be “pretty” or “cool” unless you have the product, the ad wins! The advertiser is hoping that you’ll make a “clone buy,” which is a purchase that you make to be like everyone else.

Here are two examples of “clone buy” ads: A Candie’s shoe ad read, “She was the only girl in high school that didn’t own Candie’s . . . maybe that’s why she never had a date.” How horrible is that? Another ad for Sun-In hair products showed a picture of a pretty girl. The ad read, “Four out of five girls you hate ask for it by name. Stop hating them. Start being them.” This ad manages to play on hatred, jealousy, and clone buying all at once! ^[15]

Target Practice: Advertisers call girls “targets,” as in “We want our targets to talk about our brand without even knowing they’re doing it.”

So advertisers do not see you as the cool, unique person you are. They see you as a target they can trick out of some money. But if you buy what you want, and not what someone else says you should want, you’re not a target or a sucker. You’re a cool, unique person who uses her brain!

Not Me! Even though ads work on everyone, most people don’t think ads affect them. Many experts, like ad researcher Jean Kilbourne, think these might actually be the people ads affect the most!