Question

What do you think about a marketing strategy like the Girl’s Intelligence Agency? Do you think it fundamentally changes or distorts the nature of childhood friendships?

Answer 1

For 8- to 13-year-old girls who are in the vulnerable stage of development and fitting in with their peers is paramount, marketing strategies like the Girl’s Intelligence Agency can offer short term benefits at the risk of psychological and emotional harm. Such a product offers girls a chance to feel like they are special and to get free stuff. However, the fact of the matter is that the girls are being used and manipulated and their friendships are being exploited. If the girls are allowed to carry on with this path, they may fall so deeply into the consumer culture that they would absorb its values: Only things can make one happy, and the more one has, the better it is. At the same time, by spying continuously on their friends, girls can risk having more superficial relationships.