What Not To Wear: Marketing the Fear of Social Isolation

            The end of summer break marks the beginning of the back to school marketing campaign.  The endless commercials from all the major retailers reminding parents and children their business has all the things a child needs for the start of school at the best prices. 

            Past commercials have been fun and creative.  Probably the most memorable back to school commercial was the Staples commercial where the parent was riding down the aisle on a cart gathering school supplies while the children frowned as the song “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” played in the background.  However, this year back to school commercials have targeted back to school fashion and the consequences of coming to school out of style.

            The number of back to school commercials that have informed youth of what they should wear and the consequences of not wearing what they are being told to wear by retailers has crossed the line. 

            The messages being sent to parents and children by the retailers is of social isolation if they do not wear certain clothes.  One such commercial was pulled because the commercial actually showed a child being socially isolated from their peers because the child wore the wrong clothes. 

            Another message being sent is that school is about fashion, not learning.  There are number of commercials that portray students in school doing everything but learning.  One such commercial portrayed a classroom as a runway where a student walked from the front of class to the back of class while peers were sitting in their desk watching the student pass by in various outfits.

            As schools struggle to keep students engaged in learning and help them understand the importance of obtaining an education, messages such as these from retailers give mixed messages to impressionable youth about the purpose of school.  Having a mixed message about the purpose of school, learning and obtaining an education severely hinders the ability of teachers to effectively deliver the curriculum.

Finally, with physical and cyber-bullying being problematic for students who are perceived by their peers as different, the message of social isolation for wearing the wrong clothes places youth in danger and affects their physical health, self-esteem and mental well being.

            I would like to believe that retailers would not intentionally “prey” on impressionable school aged youth by sending mixed messages that would make youth targets for not wearing the certain clothes or encouraging youth to be “cute” instead of smart.  I would also like to believe that next years back to school commercials will be vastly different (in a positive way) than this years commercials.  Let’s hope reason, common sense and an appreciation for education will prevail in next years commercial