Yesterday, a friend called me to bounce off a question. We all do that when unsure about things - that's one of the great value of having friends that we trust not to just "tickle our ears". True, sometimes we just want our ears tickled but not this time.
Her question was posed like this: "Her daughter (11 years old) was invited to a birthday party and wanted to buy her friend a birthday gift certificate from Abercrombie and Fitch? Anything wrong with that? Was A&F still into "bad advertisements", etc?"
My reaction was this:
First, I was struck once again by how young our children realize and yearn for what is considered hip by the hipsters!
Second, I reasoned that the daughter had probably asked her friend what she wanted for her birthday and the girl had told her about A&F regardless of the fact that it's merchandise isn't cheap. Whatever happended to the - "I don't want gifts- i just want us to have fun at my party" type of response.
Third, what happens when this girl fails to buy her friend this A&G gift certificate? Will she turn on her, shun her, make her feel less of a friend? Girls can be very mean to their "friends".
Finally, I responded to my friend that many advertisers cross the line as far as decency today. Even family friendly stores sport sexy ads so while A&F cross the line more and more extravagantly, I don't know that is reason enough to avoid them in this case. I think the more important reason to not buy the gift certificate is that it caves into that consumerism-materialism that seems to rule! I cautioned to buy a gift certificate from a more wholesome and cheaper store but that has nice clothes like Old Navy.
I think she liked the suggestion and plans on doing that.
Your thoughts?
