Back To School Sale—Skin Care—Seriously?!!!!

Back to School Sales have existed for as long as there have been department/discount stores, even the more boutique stores caught on to this mass purchasing craze.  That shopping reveille call that brings people (mostly moms) out of their summer hammock slumber.  As a kid, the advertisements were depressing for me as it indicated that my summer of fun and frolic was coming to an end.  Summer is ending and those dreaded “get your ass up and go to school” mornings will soon begin.

The back to school sales tradition was the sales of notebooks, pencils, backpack and maybe even the latest lunch box adorned with your favorite superhero, cartoon character, real-life hero or television, and movies.  Some stores would include specials on clothing and my mom never missed the chance to score the “blue light special” that one of the major department stores used to promote items including clothes.  But the major focus was always on school supplies that you would need to compliment the books that you usually received in K-12 schooling.

While at my favorite store, you know, the one with the motto “save money, live longer” (or some shit like that), you quickly notice the store has a larger number of sale bins in the middle of the aisles and as you might expect tons of signs indicating back to school specials.  But as I moseyed through the store a peculiar display caught my eye, it not only indicated back-to-school sale but also skincare.  Now, just like everyone else in this world, I remember the teenage problems of acne, but this display had nothing to do with that issue.  This display had facial creams (not for acne), cleaning brushes, make-up brushes, and make-up removal products.  Then there were the upscale facial creams and masks that one would normally associate with, shall we say—the more mature group.

Now, maybe some of you will say “hey Grumpy what about college-age students?”, well, in my life I can never recall a time when these sales were targeted at adult age students.  As I remember it, most supplies for the college students are in campus bookstores.  Watch any of the TV ads that have been run throughout the years and you will only see the tikes displaying their new supplies with maybe a few high school students cameoed in the frame.  I cannot remember a skin tightening mask ever being sold at any of the back-to-school sales, Halloween maybe, but never for a 5^th grader at the beginning of the school year.  Facial brushes for a 4^th grader, maybe they should also sell the anti-grey coloring for hair, you see a lot of grey in grade school these days.   And makeup—seriously?

Ok, as I was writing this blog, I saw an ad for a back to college sale (damn computer cookies), but the concept of back-to-school has always been reserved for grades K-12.  It seems like we are forcing our kids to grow up way too fast these days.  Maybe it is a socio-economic side effect of these crazy-ass dystopic times we live in.  Seems like our lives are getting pretty stressed but do we really need to force our kids to grow up too fast.  There is enough pressure just trying to pass the math test, although it feels like we might be giving up on that concept these days.

Is this the same kind of mesmerizing that corporations have done for years at Christmas time when they run endless toy commercials to pressure the parents to go out and spend their paycheck?  Or maybe this is like the technocratic mind control executed through the constant ads for new media devices (cell phones and pads).  Has social media played a role in driving our innocent little 5^th grade boys and girls to live up to the latest pop-culture fashion and style?  Is this what they mean when they say we are losing our innocence?  Where is the fun of just being a kid and having mom and dad yelling at you for sneaking cookies or staying up too late?

Corporations in their never-ending quest to be opportunists have once again created a market where one never existed.  They use the latest pop artists or trend makers to market concepts to the young that used to be reserved for adults.  We are forcing our children to become hip/grown-up or face the fear of becoming a social pariah.  This pressure is needless in a situation where our children need all the education that they can get in order to face an uncertain future.  Instead, they are being molded into Corporate America’s crown jewels of marketing.  Makes me very sad.

Talk to Ya Later

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