They're Young, They're Sensitive and They Spend as Much as a Good-Sized Country



Afraid that hard-to-reach teenagers are simply ignoring your ads? Then you'll take some comfort in the

As the chart here indicates, males and females differ significantly in how they spend their money.
‘Males also save more money for big-ticket items,’ the newsletter points out, ‘while females save less and are more impulsive shoppers. Brand consciousness is alive and well among these consumers, judging from the newsletter’s remark that ‘44% of female teens claim they can tell a lot about a person by the brand of jeans they wear.’ Despite taking umbrage at advertising’s supposed mistreatment of their intelligence, 67% of teens ‘feel advertising helps them make better buying decisions.’ And they see plenty of it: ‘They sit in front of the TV more than 20 hours per week, soaking in approximately 400 commercial messages a week.’ Will an aversion to the materialism of their elders suppress personal-consumption spending by today’s teenagers as they mature? It seems unlikely, given that ‘64% indicate they are more selfish than previous generations.’ Now that’s progress. Article includes table with data on how male, female teens spend money.
HOW TEENS SPEND THEIR MONEY
Category Male Female
Savings 21% 10%
Food, Snacks 20% 14%
Clothing 17% 33%
Movies, entertainment 16% 8%
Gas, auto 9% 9%
Records, tapes 3% 4%
Jewelry – 4%
Other 7% 1%
Personal Grooming 7% 17%
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)