Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Obesity
In 1980 only 6% of men and 8% of women were obese, whereas in 2007
nearly 25% of the UK population was obese, including over 10% of children
aged 2-10. In 2007, the government-commissioned Foresight (2007) report
predicted that if no action was taken, 60% of men, 50% of women and 25% of
children would be obese by 2050. As a consequence, obesity is an important
trend in a health conscious world. Being healthy is a preoccupation for most
consumers. Since the mid-1980s, UK consumers' desire to stay fit and well
has increased significantly (jumping from 20% to 75%) with consumption
of health foods doubling (Yeoman, 2008). However, consumers' desire for
well-being coexists with a thirst for indulgence. Consumers take steps to
become healthier but are unwilling to sacrifice many aspects of a modern
lifestyle which bring pleasure.
Age compression
Eager to grow up, today's tweens (8-12-year-olds), like youngsters before
them, are zealously trying to emulate the consumer habits of those older
than them. Businesses have been quick to recognise that the growing dis-
tinction between children's ages is pronounced enough to warrant products
and services specifically focused on those tweens who are aspiring to become
more like teenagers and adults (Yeoman, 2010), as illustrated in Figure 3.8.
Children have always had specific consumer needs. The difference today
compared with earlier is perhaps that more and more products are targeting
these tween needs from an earlier age. Whether society thinks this a
blameworthy development (laid at the door of the media and marketing
communities) or whether children are just evolving faster than before,
something of a shrinking of childhood seems to have taken place. This
phenomenon is often referred to as 'age compression' or 'children growing
older younger '. As illustrated in Figure 3.8, the blurring of the boundaries
between childhood and full-blown adolescence is happening at an earlier age
than just a generation or two ago. In the 1960s, childhood was a distinct
stage and it had been only roughly a decade since the world had discovered
or invented the 'teenager '. Today, children seem to adopt the habits and
attitudes of what has so far been considered the teen domain at an earlier
age than previously - hence the emergence of the 'tween' (preadolescence,
that is, the stage be
tween
middle childhood and adolescence in human
development, in the range of 9-12 years old). There can be no doubt that
the concepts of both 'childhood' and 'youth' are being redefined and that, as
consumers, today's kids are very different.
Today, increasingly sophisticated merchandise is being pitched at much
younger children, with far more advertising. A whole new consumer industry
has developed trying to lure tweens with toys that are edgy or sophisticated
