I thought this was an interesting subject to discuss in this module. Videos such as ‘Boot are made for Walking’ by Jessica Simpson and ‘Dirty’ by Christina Aguilera spring to mind when thinking of this subject. Some might call this an artist’s evolution into a more mature image. And some might even call this completely disgusting, especially for its young target group.
I think videos like these are bad because they are targeted at young children, especially girls. It is a known fact that young girls love to copy their pop idols. I remember when I was at primary school and I wore platforms because the Spice Girls wore them (yes, nothing to be proud of, I know). There has been a huge change in music from the days when Steps wore matching clean-cut outfits to now where the Sugarbabes dance around in their underwear.
But surly these raunchy videos will only encourage children to dress and behave in a manner that completely inappropriate? Once, a college tutor of mine told me about one Christmas when she was helping out at the Clothes Show. There were two young girls there who looked to be about seven or eight with their mums in the queue for the Santa’s Grotto. The girls were dressed in mini dresses. This is disturbing in itself. But what was more disturbing was when Christina Aguilera’s ‘Dirty’ started playing in the background and these girls suddenly started dancing to it, rolling their hips in a sexual kind of the way. What was more shocking was that the girls’ parents started cheering, “Oh aren’t they great!” According to my tutor, the other parents looked shocked and mortified. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised.
I can understand some people's hostile reactions to this. In a society where paedophiles are on the loose, we shouldn’t be encouraging children to parade around in mini-skirts and tight tops so that they become easy targets for these predators. This is a fair arguement, however we forget that children do not have jobs and thus do not earn money. They also do not wonder around Topshop or HnM alone with their friends. So where do they get the money from?? And who exactly takes them shopping?? The Parents.
I think videos like these are bad because they are targeted at young children, especially girls. It is a known fact that young girls love to copy their pop idols. I remember when I was at primary school and I wore platforms because the Spice Girls wore them (yes, nothing to be proud of, I know). There has been a huge change in music from the days when Steps wore matching clean-cut outfits to now where the Sugarbabes dance around in their underwear.
But surly these raunchy videos will only encourage children to dress and behave in a manner that completely inappropriate? Once, a college tutor of mine told me about one Christmas when she was helping out at the Clothes Show. There were two young girls there who looked to be about seven or eight with their mums in the queue for the Santa’s Grotto. The girls were dressed in mini dresses. This is disturbing in itself. But what was more disturbing was when Christina Aguilera’s ‘Dirty’ started playing in the background and these girls suddenly started dancing to it, rolling their hips in a sexual kind of the way. What was more shocking was that the girls’ parents started cheering, “Oh aren’t they great!” According to my tutor, the other parents looked shocked and mortified. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised.
I can understand some people's hostile reactions to this. In a society where paedophiles are on the loose, we shouldn’t be encouraging children to parade around in mini-skirts and tight tops so that they become easy targets for these predators. This is a fair arguement, however we forget that children do not have jobs and thus do not earn money. They also do not wonder around Topshop or HnM alone with their friends. So where do they get the money from?? And who exactly takes them shopping?? The Parents.
I feel that what the child wears is entirely the responsibilty if the parent who buys that item. If a parent felt that the item was inappropraite, they would keep the cash in their pockets and drag their child out of the store.
I do feel that what a Pop Idol wears does heavily influence what a child would see as hip. Its the same reason why a grown mature woman would buy a Topshop immitation of Gucci handbag worn by Kate Moss. Its all about attaining a degree of beauty, wealth, glamour and most importantly, acceptance. Children want to be cool to be accepted by others. The only role models for that are pop stars. Nothing is going to change that. Ideally, it would be better if there was a time machine that went back to the 90s where Pop Stars were cutely dressed and children copied their cute clothes. But theres no point in complaining about that, we all know that things change as time goes on.
Link: what the target audience think
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