Has Marketing to Tweens gone to far Free Essay Example, 2750 words

Thus, ethics are pivotal to business operations because it governs the range of methods we ought to use and determines as well if we will operate in a sustainable way in the society in which our businesses are located. As mentioned, at the minimum, ethics will allow us to earn the goodwill whose needs we have committed to serve and the goodwill can also contribute to long-term revenues and profitability of our businesses. An ethical issue in marketing is marketing to various age groups. In particular, marketing to the age group between eight to thirteen years old can be ethically problematic. It can be argued that the young people in the age group are no longer children but, at the same time, they are not yet teenagers (Cousineau and Scurry, 33). The age group between eight to fourteen years old is known as â€Å"tweens† but the literature sometimes classify â€Å"tweens† as the age group between six years old and twelve years old (Cousineau and Scurry, 33). However, w e can argue that the proper age group for the tweens is between eight and thirteen years old because by the time that a young person is thirteen then he or she can be classified as a teenager and thirteen can be classified as the pre-teen. The tweens market is no pushover. We will write a custom essay sample on Has Marketing to Tweens gone to far or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now In the US market alone, the tween market alone is about $40 billion compared to the $160 billion for the teen market (Raugust and EPM Editors, 1). Based on a study by Tiffany Meyers in 2005, treating teens and tweens to be belonging to the same age group can backfire because â€Å"it is difficult to push one coherent message† to the kids in the personality of the tweens (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Tweens do not always relate to the activities of young people older than their age group (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Based on study by Erin Clack, there can be attitudinal distinction between the younger grade schoolers and middle grade schoolers (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Tweens play like younger kids (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Based on a sample of 900 tweens, a recent study by the KidzEye division of the C&R Research revealed that 84 percent of tweens still use toys and dolls (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Yet, tweens especially girls, like to loo k older and behave like teenagers (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Friendships are important for tweens but mainly as a source of fun (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). At the same time, family relationships still dominate (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). In contrast, based on a study by book by David Siegel and others in 2004, peer group opinion is very important for teens and relationships with friends are as important as family relationships (Cousineau and Scurry, 34).