Reflection: How does the growth arc of Disney stars such as Lindsey Lohan, Vanessa Hudgins, and Miley Cyrus impact tweens?
Subjects: Teen and Tween Idols, Media Messages, Tween Fashion Trends,
You have to commend the Disney factory’s ability not only to consistently create stars like Lohan, Hudgins, and Cyrus but to package their stardom into a variety of commercial items consisting of everything from bedroom sets to clothing lines. From a business viewpoint, Disney has figured out how to spin straw into gold. Disney cross promotes their stars by giving them TV shows, recording contracts, featuring their songs in Disney movies and on Radio Disney, sending them on concert tours and selling tie-in merchandise in Disney stores. In short, “the Disney Teen Machine has become a finely tuned profit pump” of which tweens are the main consumers (Luscombe, 2009, para. 4).
Seemingly a no-lose formula, the stars that Disney has so carefully cultivated into tween idols eventually grow up, change their minds, get less cute, rebel, and make choices their fans or parents of fans don't approve of (Luscombe, 2009). Take the success of Miley Cyrus who in 2009 according to Forbes was the fifth most Googled person, has a net worth of over 25 million, and is a global brand name (Miller, 2009). On her path to adulthood, she has pole danced at the Teen Choice Awards, been videoed by TMZ giving a lap dance to a 44 year old film director, and has posed on the cover of Vanity Fair dressed in a sheet. This kind of off and on stage activity is troubling in a time when girls as well as boys are becoming sexualized at earlier ages resulting in them becoming more critical of their bodies, applying makeup and wearing racier clothes (Hoffman, 2010).
Tween idols often set tween fashion trends and just as tween idols are beginning to act older, tween fashion is trending towards young girls dressing older. They are dressing older, pushing themselves into sexualized terrain, which is propagated by tween fashion lines that peddle items like pleather bandeau bras and sequined hot pants (Morris, 2010). The use of mascara and eyeliner by girls ages 8 to 12 has risen from 10 percent in 2007 to 18 percent in 2009 (Quenqua, 2010). While the use of lipstick for that same age group has risen from 10 percent to 15 percent during the same time period (Quenqua, 2010).
The influence of tween idols may seem impossible to battle against but Holsen (2010) reports that tweens themselves are choosing to move away from idols such as Cyrus as a result of her actions. Holsen (2010) suggests that parents use Cyrus’ transition from teen idol to sexual icon as a teachable moment. Whether about TV stars, music, fashion, or makeup it is important for parents to talk about issues with their children, helping them to think through the different messages that they are receiving.
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