Merchants of Cool Response

In the program, several market researchers claim that parents contribute to the prominence of the teen market by giving them “guilt” money. Do you agree? What techniques might you use to gather evidence to prove or disprove their assertion?
Besides parents, where else might teens be getting the money they spend? Do you think
the marketers’ picture of parents is true for all families? If not, which families are being left out of their picture and why?

Teenagers have been influenced to buy products ever since the advertising industry has boomed. Over the past three decades, adolescents have become so independent on their own that they feel the need to go out and spend money on something. As one, two or both parents work in a typical home nowadays; parents do not pay attention or spend as much time with their children. When teenagers have nothing to do, they want to go to the mall, go to the movies or be with their friends, this will all costs money, which makes teenagers the most powerful consumers of our generation. With trends changing every day, teenagers feel the need to keep up with these influences, which cause the teenage population to spend over 150 billion dollars, in America alone. Being a teenager myself, I can predict that that number will only get bigger as more and more developments are coming into our world today.
As parents usually work 8 to10 hours a day and teenagers roughly 6 to 7, teenagers are usually at home or wanting to hang out with their friends. Parents contribute to the teen market because they are the ones giving their hard earned money to teenagers to spend on clothes that they are begging for or a new CD that they have to have. Fridays are common days when teenagers like to go out during the evening with their friends. Depending on where you go, clubs tend to be a place which reel many teenagers in as they know they can express themselves and dance freely without any parental supervision. There are also places like the movies, restaurants as well as amusement parks that teenagers love to go to.
Teenagers tend to get their money from parents by getting a weekly or month allowance or then asking their parents whenever they need money. In the United States, a lot of teenagers 16 and up work at fast food chains or at store retailers where they can make the minimum wage or higher. Personally, I think that teenagers these days rely too much on their parents and need to learn how to make their money, legally that is. I wish I had a job right now because I could handle to work after school but seeing that I am a diplomat and they usually only have summer jobs open in the embassy, it is very inflexible unlike Hebrew speakers who can get a job anywhere in Israel. If I ask my parents for 100NIS I will save half of it and keep it safe until I ask for another 100NIS and save a parcel of that. Overall, teenagers should at least do something to earn some of their money because when you get to spend your own hard earned money, it feels great!