Word: tweening
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Whereas I had to glean wisdom from only Teen, Seventeen and YM magazines in an effort to haphazardly shape my adolescent identity, tweens can now read Teen People, Teen Vogue, Cosmo Girl and Elle Girl—publications which together form a more comprehensive account of the lives of those with birth years between 1988 and 1990. Whereas those of us who are now college-aged might have helped form a cult-like following of Claire Danes’ angst-ridden character in My So-Called Life, today’s tweens have icons who are universally recognized as celebrities...
Today’s superstar tweens have mastered the fine art of celebrity by marketing themselves not simply as sitcom princesses or bubblegum pop singers, but instead as the complete package of movie star, television personality, pop singer, dancer, cover girl, spokesperson and—in some cases—charity advocate in one. They’ve learned from Britney and Christina to remain at least somewhat wholesome (or keep up the image of wholesomeness) for as long as possible, especially during the fragile transition from tween to teen category, a time where hormones rage and innocent kids...
These stars embrace their girl or boy-next-door image and successfully market such “aw shucks” qualities to tweens and tween parents alike. They know to tread lightly on the teen waters, with each media move strategically planned by a legion of media managers—sponsor a milk or Pepsi ad, yes; appear in a racy, possibly cleavage-exposing Guess Jeans spread, no. Over the course of a year these tweens save whales, design clothing lines, tour for their albums, promote new movies, pose for magazine covers and appear at see-and-be-seen...
Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, for example, have set the gold standard for the tween media package. Now 17, the twins are worth an estimated $150 million each, making their story seem more like a business school case study than a fairytale. Having begun their career at the ripe old age of nine months as the character Michelle on the sitcom “Full House,” Mary Kate and Ashley have developed a “brand consciousness” that compares to Barbie in terms of their name recognition...
Thus far, Vanity Fair assesses that Mary Kay and Ashley have only left one rock unturned—education. It has made national headlines that the twins have started studying for the SATs and have begun a preliminary college search. Back in the day when I was a tween, I saw Claire Danes head off to Yale. What could better complete the twins’ package, further attaching another symbol and brand to their tween identity, than Harvard itself? Imagine viewers’ reactions as the girls move their stuff into their Grays middle suite during first-year move...