Too much too young?

Many note the increasing involvement in consumer markets of younger teenagers and 'tweenies', and some argue there is a corruption of youth here.

Yet long term, pocket money has grown exactly in step with disposable incomes (EFS) - so while children do spend vastly more than previously, their parents have not actually become more generous.

Thus, notions of a 'spoiled generation' may resonate with popular suspicion, but rarely cohere with the personal experience of parents ("everyone else spoils their children these days, but not us").

Similar myths surround youth criminality and sexuality - the news media launch daily anecdotal onslaughts on public perception, convincing most of us that today's teens play host to epidemics of violence and sexual misdemeanour - here again almost everyone feels that youngsters they know personally must be exceptional cases of virtue.

Let's step back: here's Auderic, an 11th century monk: "Our wanton youth wallow in effeminacy. They shave the front of their heads like thieves and let their hair grow long at the back like whores...openly proclaiming that they revel in lust" (translation: JL Nelson).

The trouble with today's youth is a historical constant, not a genuine trend - giving rise to interesting dissonances between consumers' perceptions of society and their personal experience of young people.

The impact all this fear and loathing has on young people themselves is also an interesting question.

Marketing Week 26 June 2008