Limited Too Essay

1521 Words4 Pages

Limited Too was the girls and tween store of the 90’s and 00’s. Limited Too was created by The Limited, INC. (“Tween Brands Inc.”). In 1996, it was turned into a tween store and skyrocketed. They had over 600 stores in 2007 at their peak. The store grew so rapidly and spread so quickly through the tween market that Tween Brands, INC. created Justice in 2004. Limited Too died with the fall of the market in 2009, when Justice, which targeted the same age group, took over and the stores merged (“Tween Brands Inc.”). Parents spend over $700 billion on their children, making this market a hot commodity for capitalist gains (Consuming Kids). Limited Too embodies Marshall’s criticism of modern-day consumerism, describing Girlhood as a lifestyle rather than a particular product as seen in their slogan “It’s a Girl’s World!” (Marshall, 97). They sell the entire identity or “world” of being a girl. Their slogan optimizes the 90’s tween girl power movement, or lack-there-of represented throughout their stores. Limited Too also partook in the “full 360˚ immersive marketing” outlined in Consuming Kids, which emanates into every aspect of a child’s life as seen by the variety of products they sell, from lingerie to candy (Consuming Kids). Items focused towards young girls has been a means of selling particular ideas about girlhood (Marshall, …show more content…

Even if the world isn’t a girl’s world, they have their own space in Limited Too to be whoever they want. Albeit it is a constricted form, they can still pick and choose within the safe parameters of normative feminism who they will become through what they consume. Perhaps that is the incentive for young girls is that because it is exclusive, they feel free to dance in the aisles or buy shorts that say “I LOVE gymnastics!”. However, this is a privilege of those who can afford Limited Too. Limited Too is a high-end

Show More
Related

  • Gender Stereotypes Among Children's Toys

    514 Words  | 2 Pages

    I noticed the girls’ toys engaged fine motor skills more than the boys’ toys did. The girls have several different types and sizes of dolls to choose from – however, this also makes dolls or items used with dolls (Barbie clothes, doll clothes, doll houses, Barbie cars, and doll furniture). Over half of all the products in the girls’ section. This shows the stereotypical attitude that all girls like to nurture and will someday be expected to be mothers and the primary care giver for their children. Other toys I noticed that were very stereotypical were the child size vacuum, broom, and kitchen set.

    Read More

  • Lianne George Why Are We Dressing Our Daughters Like This Analysis

    488 Words  | 1 Pages

    Lianne George’s article “Why Are We Dressing Our Daughters Like This?” (2014) focuses on the societal issue of an increasingly earlier development of young girls. George states that companies facilitate this early development by producing adult like goods for children that push an adult mindset and behaviour. Through the use of various examples George argues that this trend is ill advised and should not be continued.

    Read More

  • Reflections on Orenstein's Schoolgirls

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    Friday night, as I watched television I evaluated commercial content in relation to the target of women and what message advertisements send to women of all ages. In one hour I saw twenty-four commercials, eleven were targeted at women and every single one had something to do with either the appearance or beauty of women or a domestic focus. These commercials touted products to enhance beauty or lose weight with the underlying message of "improved self-esteem". I have always blamed the media, or more broadly, cultural attitudes for the problems young girls and women face with low self-image and often find myself citing Barbie dolls and the overwhelmingly pink aisles at the toys-r-us as a root cause of the marginalization of women's roles. Peggy Orenstein refers to this as the "politics of the external", a term which, at first, I had a difficult time accepting. Is this not a major implication when discussing a society that promotes female self-censorship and devalued intellectual potential? After reading "Schoolgirls" I came to understand exactly what Orenstein meant and she convinced me that "the internal need not, and indeed should not, be ignored". Although it may not be well documented it is indeed established that although "women's lib" has come a very long way since we received the right to vote there are still social implications that can only confuse women's' identity and self-image. Peggy Orenstein's book has indeed caused me to look deeper into the internal issues affecting self-esteem that women face beginning with adolescence.

    Read More

  • Little Girls Or Little Women The Disney Princess Effect Analysis

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article, “Little Girls or Little Women: The Disney Princess Affect”, Stephanie Hanes shows the influential impact that young girls, and youth in general, are experiencing in today’s society. This article goes in depth on the issues that impressionable minds experience and how they are reacting as a result. “Depth of gender guidelines” has been introduced to youth all around the world making it apparent that to be a girl, you have to fit the requirements. Is making guidelines of how you should act and look as a gender going too far?

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Article 'Little Girls Gone Wild'

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    The title itself, Little Girls Gone Wild, along with being a tactless play on words is also turning the girls into the active and sole participants of this phenomenon; it completely excludes the point that they are in fact the ones being manipulated, and only doing so because they think it meets the media standards of being beautiful. The sexualisation of young girls is of course a corrupt practice, but the way to stop that does not lie in equating feminine behavior with sexuality, or confidence with “sluttiness”. Teaching girls to shame sexuality at a young age also reinforces internalized misogynistic ideals, and distorts their own perceptions of sex as they grow older. However, this also does not mean that young girls should be seen as sexualised figures at their age. Combe fails to make this observation; she instead shames girls for doing things that can make them feel better about themselves, vilifying even manicures and 1 inch heels.

    Read More

  • Changes of Women’s Roles in Advertising from 1900’s and 1920’s

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    Early in the process of mass market consumers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers realize significance of using their advertising to target women. Ads were designed and published to speak primarily for women. In the years preceding World War I, marketing techniques targeting women consumers became increasingly effective. Throughout history, women have always struggled for a recognized place in society. Despite the activities of the Suffragettes, support of the Labor Party and some members of the Liberal Party, women still had very few rights in 1900 and certainly no political rights. During the 1900’s women were still trapped in the “cult of domesticity” (Srivastava). A good illustration of the life of women early during those days can be seen in the advertisement O-cedar print ad year 1900 (fig. 1 below). This print ad speaks to house wives, saying that they have a wide variety of products to choose from. Ranging from a polish to protect her floor wood and furniture, dusting pads and mops that, according to their ad “reduce cleaning, dusting and polishing to almost nothing”. It is obvious that this advertisement reflects the stereotypical depictions of women as a “Happy Homemaker”, apron-clad and committed mothers portrayed in self promotional ads.

    Read More

  • Media's Portrayal Of Men And Women's Communication Styles

    1538 Words  | 4 Pages

    We see the ways that the popular media uses gender tensions everywhere. The truth is that sex sells, we know that. The challenge that advertisers face is: How to use it best. Some advertisers do this better than others and the ones that truly have an understanding of gender tensions will, in the end, sell the most. In my last paper, I explored how the company Abercrombie and Fitch uses gender tensions to sell their clothes. They have become among the masters in advertising and the business in booming. They cater to young adults and young adults only for one powerful reason: It is at this age in which the sexual tensions between male and female are greatest. Abercrombie and Fitch has found their niche.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography: Media Representation Research

    1909 Words  | 4 Pages

    Firminger examines the ways these magazines represent young males and females. She reveals that these magazines talks about the physical appearance of young girls but also their sexuality, emotions, and love life. The author informs how the advice given by the magazines is negative. The author also argues that these magazines focus more on their social life than how their academic performance

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jack Solomon's Masters Of Desire: The Culture Of American Advertising

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    This phenomenon suggests that all women are required to remain loyal wives and stay at home mothers who aspire to achieve perfection. In “Mirrors of Masculinity: Representation and Identity in Advertising Images,” Jonathon E. Schroeder and Detlev Zwick claim that “highly abstract connections are made between the models, a lifestyle, and the brand” resulting in a need to associate these products with a specific way of living (25). Instead of simply displaying these luxurious bracelets and handbags, the ad creates an elegant environment through the incorporation of sophisticated items. The women are dressed elegantly in dresses and blouses, adding a conservative element to the ad. The ad presents a rather stereotypical image of the very successful heads-of-household type mothers who have brunch with other elite women in an exclusive circle. Everything from the merchandise they sport to the champagne glasses down to the neatly manicured fingernails provides insight into the class of women presented in this ad. The body language of the women strips the image of the reality element and instead appears to be staged or frozen in time. This directly contributes to the concept of the gendered American dream that urges women to put up a picture-perfect image for the world to see. Instead of embracing individual struggle and realities, the American dream encourages women to live out a fabricated

    Read More

  • Teen Clothing Ads: Ethical and Effective?

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...for Parents." Media and Clothing Market Influence on Adolescent Girls: Warnings for Parents. Ed. Sarah Coyne and Stephen F. Duncan. Forever Families, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2014. .

    Read More

  • Mary Piphers Analysis

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mary Pipher goes on to say that the problem faced by girls is a ‘problem without a name’ and that the girls of today deserve a different kind of society in which all their gifts can be developed and appreciated. (Pipher,M). It’s clear that cultures and individual personalities intersect through the period of adolescence. Adolescence is a time in a young girl’s life that shapes them into the woman they become. I think it begins earlier than teen years because even the clothing that is being sold for younger girls says sexuality. Bras for girls just beginning in every store are now padded with matching bikini underwear, Barbie dolls are glamour up in such away that these girls believ...

    Read More

  • Article Analysis Of Selling To Children By Juliet Schor

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    Juliet B. Schor, a professor of sociology at Boston College, is the author of Selling to Children: The Marketing of Cool and many other books on the topic of American Consumption. Schor is a professor of sociology at Boston College. In this article, Selling to Children: The Marketing of Cool, Schor talks about what cool is and how it has affected the culture of advertising and ideals. From Schor’s writing we can try to understand why she wrote about this topic and how she feels about the methods of advertising used for kids, providing facts for each of her main statements.

    Read More

  • The Truth About Princesses in Fairy Tales

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Once given birth to a beautiful baby girl, often parents refer to her as their little princess; when having a newborn girl, that baby girl will often get all the attention from her surroundings, she will be showered in the most adorable dresses; cute shoes , baby clothes that say “princess” on it and either a bow or a bedazzled head band, perhaps a room that is nothing but pink, letters on her wall over looking her crib saying “Mommy’s little Princess”. There is nothing wrong with spoiling your baby girl. But as time goes her idea of her gender role begins to develop. Buying her princess toys, surrounding her with pink, and watching the Disney movies about how princesses are beautiful, always gets her prince charming, and lives an enchanted life for ever after, is a dangerous “reality” to create for young girls. Eventually, while growing up from child years to young adults, girls in this type of environment can develop a gender constructed identity that, they are superior and deserve an enchanted life. It’s a dangerous reality for these young girls because they will grow up to believe that, they’re entitled to the fairy tale life, having pure beauty , marry her dream man, conceive beautiful children and live happily ever after, but sometimes life is not a fairy tale and you don’t always end up getting what you want.

    Read More

  • Influence of Media on How Beauty is Percieved in Society

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    Often times, magazines use images of youthful looking models to promote lingerie. In the case of the Victoria’s Secret advertisement the target audience are adolescence to middle aged women since the models in the commercial appear to be young in age. Beauty is seen as youth in this advertisement since all of the women in the photo appear to be young in age, with no signs of aging. Youthful looking women in advertisements are seen as vulnerable and show the weakness of women in a patriarc...

    Read More

  • Gender Neutral Toys

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    The days of blue is for boys and pink is for girls are coming to a victorious end. Now more than ever, child products are marketed specifically towards just girls or just boys, and not for children in general. This outright gender specific marketing can have poor effects on the children consumers, who feel pressured to play with the toys made specifically for their gender. A boy who likes Barbie or a girl who likes race cars and trucks may not want to play with the toys they really enjoy because they feel they are not supposed to be for them. The idea of gender-neutral toys is becoming more and more popular, because this change is greatly needed. The removal of gender specific toys from current marketing and stores has the capability to empower

    Read More

More about Limited Too Essay

Open Document