Spending Habits Among Youngsters
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- Date Submitted: 03/26/2010 12:26 AM
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Spending habits among youngsters
Ashish owns an iPod, a latest 3 mega pixel camera phone with Bluetooth, GPRS, touch screen (add on all the features you could think the mobile companies offer these days!), has a personal computer at home plus a laptop for "personal" needs, a home theatre system in his room, a collection of the latest CD's, casual wear from the top brands, branded shoes..... Ashish is not an MNC executive or a software engineer who mints money but a Tweener (as the industry now puts these kids, who actually seem to not fit into the definition of a traditional kid), a 17 year old teen from a middle class family with both parents working.
It is the face of the emerging new India where teenagers are suddenly spending much more than what their grandfathers earned in their lifetime. As families get smaller, teen spending power has also become a matter of demographics. Parents are splurging more because most parents have only two kids. As nuclear families are more with both parents working, children get more money as pocket money compared to large families with more than 3 kids. Children get cash with no strings like work or responsibilities attached to it. Ask or don't ask and you shall receive...a lot of money. That's the commandment at the core of parents turning their kids into carefree big-spenders. This is when a colossal chunk of Indian’s teenage population has no access to basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing and education. Parents feel that pocket money is important for the kids, as they can replace the time that they would otherwise have to spend with their kids, with some money. Parents also feel that what they were not able to get in their childhood, they have to get all that for their kids.
During the last decade of unparalleled prosperity, the marketers have persuaded us that greed is not only good, but also necessary and natural. Then they took a look at the largest group of teenagers in our country's history and started...
Ashish owns an iPod, a latest 3 mega pixel camera phone with Bluetooth, GPRS, touch screen (add on all the features you could think the mobile companies offer these days!), has a personal computer at home plus a laptop for "personal" needs, a home theatre system in his room, a collection of the latest CD's, casual wear from the top brands, branded shoes..... Ashish is not an MNC executive or a software engineer who mints money but a Tweener (as the industry now puts these kids, who actually seem to not fit into the definition of a traditional kid), a 17 year old teen from a middle class family with both parents working.
It is the face of the emerging new India where teenagers are suddenly spending much more than what their grandfathers earned in their lifetime. As families get smaller, teen spending power has also become a matter of demographics. Parents are splurging more because most parents have only two kids. As nuclear families are more with both parents working, children get more money as pocket money compared to large families with more than 3 kids. Children get cash with no strings like work or responsibilities attached to it. Ask or don't ask and you shall receive...a lot of money. That's the commandment at the core of parents turning their kids into carefree big-spenders. This is when a colossal chunk of Indian’s teenage population has no access to basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing and education. Parents feel that pocket money is important for the kids, as they can replace the time that they would otherwise have to spend with their kids, with some money. Parents also feel that what they were not able to get in their childhood, they have to get all that for their kids.
During the last decade of unparalleled prosperity, the marketers have persuaded us that greed is not only good, but also necessary and natural. Then they took a look at the largest group of teenagers in our country's history and started...