Young people, a goldmine for brands

From playing makeup with the briefcases sold by toy stores to making money by doing makeup directly with cosmetic and beauty products. The phenomenon of ‘Sephora Kids’ – as minors who share content on social networks related to this area is known worldwide – has put not only dermatology professionals on alert for possible damage to the skin when applying products not designed for that area. age group, but also psychology, who have warned of the consequences in terms of mental health.

Brands, not just cosmetics, have found a juicy market in minors; a very attractive consumer who, in addition, moves skillfully through the networks and who reaches levels of influence, in many cases impossible to achieve by the industry in the sector.

On the networks there are minors with the label of ‘influencers’ who highlight the benefits of beauty routines and offer ‘tours’ of their rooms to talk about the properties of their new mattress. Anything goes to reach a new attractive audience on three levels, as explained by Beatriz Feijoo, professor in the Advertising and Marketing degrees at UNIR and principal researcher of the DIGITAL_FIT study – which has analyzed the impact of brand content published by influencers on food. and in the physical appearance of the minors. Feijoo points out that minors are attractive at a primary level, that is, in those sectors that they can access as a buyer and in which they may be interested: toys, candy, comics, etc. Secondly, as a consumer of the future. «Brands are launching messages to position themselves in their heads. The most paradigmatic sector of this is the automotive sector and they cannot buy a car.

And a third level: its influence on family purchasing decisions. “Minors increasingly influence purchasing decisions about technology, food, travel or appliances, becoming prescribers.” The impact of companies comes through the spaces where minors are found – television, for example, but also “from child influencers, because brands place their products through them,” he indicates. Hence, he is surprised by the great knowledge they have of product names that, a priori, one would think are not for them.

A new panorama

The main interest that minors show when receiving advertising is fashion. “It is the most prominent, but then you start to break down and sectors not designed for this audience appear: cosmetics and beauty, gyms or aesthetics, both touch-ups and operations,” he breaks down, while pointing out that minors are becoming a target audience. of products that imply “a prioritization of the physical appearance and that content reaches them through ‘influencers’.”

In this sense, brands are increasingly diversifying their product lines “because they have to reach a new audience if they want to sell more,” says Feijoo. In any case, this expert advocates not so much advertising literacy for parents and teachers, but rather accompanying them during this new panorama, because “often people are not aware of what certain phenomena such as ‘Sephora Kids’ and “We become accomplices.”

Putting limits on mobile phone use and in particular on minors’ access to social networks: therein lies one of the most important issues in order to put a stop to the ‘Sephora Kids’ phenomenon. “As long as families do not see this as a priority, we are going to make very little progress in the field of mental health,” warns clinical psychologist, family therapist, researcher and professor of the Degree in Psychology at UNIR Pilar Berzosa. It is seen “in an enormous worsening of dysmorphia, eating disorders and non-acceptance of one’s own body, which leads to the use, more in girls than in boys, of cosmetics, operations and touch-ups.”

Berzosa calls on parents to listen to professionals, in addition to urging the Government to develop a “good prevention plan for child and adolescent mental health”, linked and coordinated between the educational, health and social services areas. Although projects or conferences are being carried out, such as UNIR – ‘Prevention and family treatment to improve child and adolescent mental health’ -, “much more is required. “Mental health is still in its infancy.” «Parents must understand that if we do not take this from the base, in the end the children will be affected by many pathologies. The system is “so perverse” that it makes parents not realize “the seriousness of this exposure of their children so that they earn money at the expense of their mental health in a totally out of place context, such as advertising cosmetics or beauty, when “They should be playing and in adolescence begin to bond with their peers.”