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Tweeny bit spoilt

By Nan Du (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-08 09:30

Parents and experts are increasingly worried that young Chinese, such as these teenagers at Xidan shopping area in Beijing, have become the family's biggest consumers. [Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Ma Qing sits on the sofa holding her knees, trying to hold back her tears. Her 11-year-old daughter Mengmeng has been weeping in her room for hours because Ma refused to buy a dress for her. The 36-year-old mother believes the strapped dress made by a famous label is too expensive and revealing. But it seems she has to compromise.

Before locking herself inside, Mengmeng protested: "Mom, you have no right to interfere with my choice." She has already "persuaded" her mom to allow her lipstick, nail polish, wedge heels and corset by going on "hunger strike".

Ma has been losing ground, ever since the girl started earning her own money.

Six years ago, Mengmeng earned 300 yuan ($43) as a flower girl at her aunt's wedding. When a wedding ceremony company asked her parents if she could appear at other weddings, Ma and her husband thought it would be a good way for Mengmeng to broaden her horizons and learn how to manage money.

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For three years, the Guangzhou high school student spent her weekends and holidays as a flower girl and earned 4,000 yuan each year. She stopped attending weddings three years ago but still amassed a considerable sum. Moreover, Ma and the teachers find Mengmeng to be more mature and confident than her friends, though the flipside is she is no longer satisfied with simple gifts.

Actually, Mengmeng is not the only demanding child. Ma's friend, a university lecturer in Shanghai, recently bought an Audi A4 for 300,000 yuan ($43,900) but his son, who is about the same age as Mengmeng, still says it isn't good enough, since some of his classmates' parents are driving more expensive limos.

"What's happening with today's children? Why are they so different from us when we were young?" Ma sighs.

Numerous Chinese parents are faced with the same dilemma. On Children's Day the Southern Metropolis Weekly carried a series of reports that revealed some striking facts about Chinese children's consumption demands.

Almost overnight, Chinese parents have discovered their children are the family's biggest consumers. Some analysts say that a "tween" generation bent on materialistic pursuits has appeared in China.

In 2003, popular US author Martin Lindstrom discussed the consumption needs of "tweens" (children aged 9-14) around the world in BRANDchild: Inside the Minds of Today's Global Kids: Understanding Their Relationship with Brands.

Based on a survey of children in 11 countries, Lindstrom estimated that although the tweens still relied on their parents, they already had an independent sense of brand values. Tweens spent $1 trillion a year and influenced their parents' choices in purchasing at least 60 percent of brand products.

Tweens are heavily influenced by the media and absorb an average of 40,000 advertisements every year - almost 110 per day. An estimated $25 billion worth of ads was spent on advertising that targeted the youngsters.

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