age of 18 (Andersen, 1996). It will not be all that long before the products of the second baby boom began to produce their own children. Thus, the children's market appears to be here to stay. With minor differences, this situation is appearing in all developed economies of the world.
Marketing organizations in all product lines are exploring ways to tap into the burgeoning children's market segment (Brookman, 1998). A growing public awareness that marketers are targeting children has aroused the ire of some social activists, some concerned academics, and some parents. Among this group, it is the parents who worry marketers, as strong opposition from parents could not only wreck a firm's strategy for exploiting the children's market segment, it also could play havoc with a firm's strategies directed at adult markets. Thus, marketing organizations, if they are astute, will tread carefully as they work their way into the potentially lucrative children's market segment.
While it is relatively easy to postulate some evil implications of targeting children as a market segment, when one gives some thought to the issue a realization may develop that the step to the targeting of children as a market segment may not be all that large. The manufacturer of Barbie Dolls has targeted the children's market segment for decades (Goldstein, 1998). There can be little question that Mattel consciously exploited the opportunities in the children's market segment through the marketing of Barbie Dolls.
Barbie Doll advertising was oriented toward children. So, a reasonable question is how Mattel's targeting of the children's market segment differs from what is occurring today. To answer this question, one need look no further than Mattel. The company has introduced a line of clothes based on the Barbie-look for children who wear sizes 4 through 6X (Goldstein, 1998). Further, Mattel has plans to expand the Barbie line of clothes to target...