Chic-enomics

Back in 2010 I did a video called MYLF vs. Miley Cyrus because I was really outraged at the way Miley had changed from the squeaky clean Hanna Montana to the slutty girl in a corset with her boobs falling out and rolling around in the bottom of a bird cage singing Can't Be Tamed.   Click here to see it. It wouldn't have been so bad if she had waited until after Hanna Montana was off the Disney Channel but the fact that she was doing nasty videos like that and still hawking t-shirts, sheets and toys to little girls seemed very unseemly.   It frankly pissed me off.   I had bought my daughter Amber all sorts of Hanna Montana t-shirts, CDs, dolls and DVDs and now just looking at them made me mad.  It was different from the end of Amber's days with her Bratz dolls or My Little Ponies - she had outgrown those and they weren't real people.   She would have outgrown Hannah Montana if Miley hadn't pushed it to the point that I vowed never to purchase anymore Miley Cyrus merchandise or songs from her new CD.   But while most people would have thought the backlash would have come from the moms, it was her core audience of 13 to 17 year olds that abandoned the more mature Miley.  In fact the CD "Can't Be Tamed" opened to a third of the sales of her previous CDs.  But now, two years later, I think that Miley is finally beginning to see the light - that's it's very bad business to piss off moms because the purse is mightier then the sword.  
 

Just an FYI for the 97% of the males who are creative directors at ad agencies, women make 85% of the buying decisions and are the CEOs of purchasing in their households.   Females are probably the best consumers you could ever ask for.  They research items before they purchase them and once they find something they like, they stick with it.  This is especially true when it comes to mother's who find positive role models for their daughters.   Girls like Miranda Cosgrove of iCarly and Selena Gomez of the Wizards of Waverly Place  - they play strong characters who are loyal to their family and friends.   Moms will gladly shell out money for the DVDs, sheets, dolls, t-shirts, games, etc to reinforce positive role models.    Overall in the US economy, female consumers are responsible for $7 trillion in spending.  In fact, in the next decade women around the world will have more financial influence than China and India combined. Yet, it's interesting that only 3% of creative directors at ad agencies are women - makes you wonder what the guys are thinking - because they are not thinking like women.  Who was advising Miley about her new image because it sure as hell wasn't a mom with spending power.  Okay, maybe moms with spending power aren't sexy, but by God they are powerful.    

Just how powerful you ask?  Women can definitely drive movie trends.   For instance, Bella in the New Moon Series has two hot guys after her and she’s in flannel shirts, henleys and jeans most of the time.   She's smart if brooding (you think with two hunks after her, she could smile break a smile every now and then, but then angst is very appealing to vampires).  Who do you think drove those 15 year olds to see the midnight shows for the record opening weekends of those movies?  Moms who also enjoy a hunky vampire or werewolf every now and then.  We help our daughters decide who the next Bella will be and trust me it won't be a teenage girl in a low cut corset.  

Just a few other stats that the business world needs to take note of: women are buying at record levels in the markets traditionally reserved for men.  For instance, the ladies love their gadgets to the tune of nearly half of the $200 billion consumer-electronics business in 2007.  We also love those DIY channels and spend $105 billion of the $256 billion home-improvement market. Some guys were wondering why they had Madonna do the half time show at the Superbowl - the answer - women make-up 44% of the NFL fan base.

 

 

Here's another news flash, in the U.S., women hold sway over 51.3% of the nation's private wealth, as Maddy Dychtwald observes in Influence -  one of the many books about how female economic power is changing the world.   "We're on the brink of a massive power shift, a grinding of the gears of history into a new human condition," she writes. "It's a world where women can, if they choose, seize the reins of economic control."   In 35% of homes where both spouses work - the women make more than their husbands which is up 7% from just five years ago.  We're also graduating college at a ratio of 60% for women versus 40% for men.   It's estimated that by the year 2024, women will close the income gap and will actually be making more then men.  So in just 12 short years, women will be holding more of the purse strings then they ever have in world history.  The economic world needs to be ready.   By that time, let's hope they are sitting at the head of more Fortune 500 companies rather than the 12 women that are already there.  

My advice to young women everywhere is to become as financially savvy as possible.   You're going to be taking on the reins that have taken centuries for women around the world to build.   Don't pretend to be stupid just to get a boy to notice you -  because in the new economic world order, you can stand along side him at very least as his equal.  In a touch of irony - Miley was recently spotted wearing "Mom jeans" - high waisted, acid washed and tapered at the ankles.   Maybe she's working on trying to get back into our good graces.  It's worth a try but it's going to be a climb.