For most of us, we all remember the celebrity that swept us off our feet at the shy age of thirteen. Today, young stars such as The Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, etc. are all mostly Disney bred stars that have impacted our young preteens. Well its not the first time in pop culture that this has happened and certainly not the last.
Celebrities that uphold the Teenybopper's Subculture
The term, "teenyboppers," was first created by marketing professionals in the entertainment industry who were looking to consumers in the preteen years of age. Dating back to the 1960's, The Beatles were the heavily idolized music group that first defined teenyboppers as a subculture of popular music. The attributes of the teenybopper include a female preteen. These female preteens range in age from nine to about fifteen and appear to be abnormally committed to their celebrity hearthrobs. Teenybopper apparel usually varies from a photograph of their hearthrob printed onto cheaply made t-shirts to mascara running down faces from the tears of joy from becoming starstruck. Here are a few examples to fill everyone in if you're still not envisioning what I'm describing...
A Typical Depiction of Teenyboppers
Overall, one may agree that the subculture of the teenybopper exists, however, there is an interesting observation between marketers and their portrayal of certain celebrities that appeal to different age groups. For the most part, I think that marketers market celebrities to target audiences that are most like themselves. It is adhearant that consumers are attracted to things that remind them of themselves or might depict who they think they are. Music stereotyping functions the same across all depictions of celebrities in entertainment, this is because consumers will always be attracted to vivid, salient, and attractive objects.
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