A generational marketing No-No: Politicizing the toys and activities of “Millennials”!

Posted by on Dec 20, 2013 in Generation 9/11, Generation Y, Millennials | 0 comments

Mixing after-school activities, such as playing with dolls and earning merit badges, with a political hot potato – and aiming it toward young Millennials – is just plain bad generational marketing.

Common Core is an education initiative in the U.S. that details what K-12 students should know in English and math at the end of each grade. Some parents think it’s a great idea and some parents think it’s a bad idea.

So, aligning Common Core with American Girl dolls is a generational marketing No-No. American Girl dolls greatly influenced young Millennials and is now an influencer of Gen 9/11 girls. Girls not only are immersed in Common Core all day at school, they can now come home to play with their new American Girl doll who carries Common Core books in her backpack.

“As a result, the parent backlash against Common Core now extends to American Girl dolls.
If a young girl doesn’t get enough Common Core in school, she can also be exposed to the new standards at her next Girl Scout meeting. According to the Girl Scouts, “the content of all Girl Scout national proficiency badges and journeys have been correlated by grade level to national Common Core Standards… for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

Mixing politics and playtime feels like a sort of indoctrination technique. For Common Core or against, parents, quite simply, don’t want their children indoctrinated.