It’s always a pleasure to publish the work of Dr Emma Rush. A lecturer in ethics at Charles Sturt University, Emma is lead author of two significant reports on the sexualisation of children, published by the Australia Institute. She is also a contributor to Getting Real: Challenging the sexualisation of children.
A child is not a miniature adult. They are not a fashion accessory. They are a developing human being and need the cultural space to be just that. Yet we are now seeing constant marketing of adult appearance culture to children, as in, for example, the latest ads for the Witchery Kids brand. The Witchery Kids campaign is simply one particularly sophisticated example of corporations functioning to close down that cultural space for kids to be kids, with resulting ‘appearance anxiety’ for children during a period in their lives when they need the space to develop into their own person.
The wording of the new Witchery Kids campaign, ‘We believe that fun and imagination are the centre of every child’s universe’, is not reflected in the marketing images. Not one of the children in the images is smiling and it would be stretching it to say that even three of them are engaged in imaginative activities
This campaign needs to be seen in context. Four years have elapsed since the release of the landmark Australia Institute paper Corporate Paedophilia: Sexualisation of Children in Australia . This paper criticised the sexualisation of children in marketing images (among related issues) and provoked considerable public debate, ultimately leading to a Senate Inquiry into the Sexualisation of Children in the Contemporary Media .
Over the same period, confirmation of the risks of sexualising children has come from major
reports by psychologists in the United States and United Kingdom (Papadopoulos, 2010).
So put yourself in the position of an advertiser. They have to push the boundaries to get attention, but they don’t want to attract a backlash like the one seen four years ago… so this is the result. The public don’t like sexualisation? Let’s try adultification instead.
Nothing about the campaign images recognises that children are anything other than miniaturised adults. You could replace the children in the images with adults and nothing would appear odd. The images invite you to ‘read’ the children as adults.
But what is really creepy is that the campaign ties into the child-as-fashion-accessory-for-the-parent’ trend, encapsulated in the expression ‘mini-me’. To all who see children in this way, I say children are not “a reflection of the adult’s personal style”, as the celebrity blogger on the Witchery Kids website says. Is there an expert out there who can explain to me how such colossal egoism can be compatible with effective parenting?
So I’ve coined a new definition of adultification: pressure put on children to prematurely adopt narrow and stereotypical forms of adult appearance and behaviour. ‘This is the way kids should look. This is the way kids should behave.’ This is about making money with scant respect for anything else. Give us a break.
The risks of adultifying children are similar to those of sexualising them, but sometimes not as obvious.
If children are vulnerable to self-image concerns, these may develop over time into self-objectification, that is, experiencing one’s body as an object. Psychological research suggests
this detracts from both cognitive and physical performance.
We all recognise this in our daily lives: the child (or adult) who is overly focussed on their appearance will not be fully attentive to other things in their lives. This is of particular concern in childhood while the brain is still developing.
Even without the fully blown consequences of self-objectification, time and energy spent on conforming to adultified stereotypes may distract children from the important tasks of developing skills (physical, creative, intellectual) and relationships that provide a real foundation for rewarding teen and adult years. Think playing sports, climbing trees, making music, making art, reading, developing technological capacities – and developing caring relationships.
Contrast this with the Witchery Kids campaign, where the underlying message is clearly: ‘It’s all about me and how I portray myself through my look’.
Well, no. The world is so much bigger than that. That kind of limited self-understanding leaves children very vulnerable to the opinions of others. Children, just like adults, need a self-understanding based on substance rather than style.
Of course the Witchery Kids campaign will not cause such limited self-understanding by itself. It doesn’t need to. It’s just part of the constant corporate dripping that wears away the stone of a sane and healthy human life. We can’t just cut children off from the broader culture. Parents can’t do that and they shouldn’t have to.
We need a broader culture that doesn’t undermine children’s healthy development.
Advertisers and marketers need to stop seeing children as fodder for their campaigns. In suggesting children are older and more knowing than they really are, Witchery has sent a harmful message. They need to be reminded that children are not smaller versions of adults.
Read more by Emma Rush: ‘Making children vulnerable to sexual danger and harm’; ‘The market is eating our children’
6 Responses
Great post. I agree re the ‘adultisation’ of kids in these images. They look bored and unhappy. Who wants that for their kids?
This post reminded me of a hideous kiddie fashion blog called Planet Awesome Kid. Dedicated to “celebrating the individualism and spirit of children around the world”, it publishes photos of ‘kid street style’ as well as photos parenta have submitted of their little fashionistas. Comments are invited.
According to the site: “A child’s sense of self comes shining through in his or her style and what he or she chooses to wear. It is one of the most basic and instinctual ways that children show the world who they are. Whether they’ve dressed themselves or have been dressed by an equally awesome parent, we just love it. Babies, too, can be fashionmaticians!”
This all certainly makes me think twice about the way I dress my kids.
Great, so either I can now look like a four old, or my kinder girl can look like a slapper all from the one store.
I am so passionate against this pathetic use of children to sell clothes I am canceling my trip to Chadstone to see the stuff, throwing out my W card and unsubscribing from their emails, and I will tell them why.
Excellent article Emma.
I still can’t believe the legal action taken by ‘David Jones’ regarding the ‘Corporate Paedophilia’ report you authored. Apparently they didn’t like the suggestion that they (along with others) were sexualising or eroticising girls in their catalogues.
Such bullying behaviour from a corporation who, as it turns out …along with their ad agency Saatchi and Saatchi…did provide instructions to portray young girls as “slightly more adult and sexy”.
The same brief stated “This is a branding exercise for DJ’s where we must communicate aspirational kid’s fashion”.
Four years on and the line is still being blurred by ad agencies and corporations specifically targeting children.
After initial reluctance to respond ‘Cotton On’ recently withdrew nationally over 40,000 pieces of children’s t-shirts displaying inappropriate adult sexualised slogans. They have since admitted that they crossed a line and that the t-shirts were incompatible with their branding. The CEO also took the time to discuss the issue of sexualisation and they have certainly raised awareness within the company.
This is responsible action – however it is reactive action.
It is time for any industry targeting children to be proactively responsible.
So far I note there has been NO response from ‘Witchery Kids.’
It’s really sad to see kids being turned into bored consumers instead of vibrant, active members of society. The message they need to be given is that appearance doesn’t matter; what matters is care for others and appreciation of our wonderful world.
Well Julie Gale, does it come as any surprise that David Jones were behind this sort of push? Have a look at their now former CEO who is a sexual predator. I am the Father of a 5yr old girl and I want her to grow up a girl until she is a woman and that time will come later in life, not at 8 yrs old you perverts.