Hey kids, want to learn how to shop?
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As if anyone has to teach them. But two new sites aim to help with this matter.
Shoplikeanna.com, primarily aimed at preteen girls, declares it’s about ‘Everything We Love: Style, Celebrities, Entertainment.’ If that isn’t vacuous enough, the site also asks, for example, ‘Hate math but love to dance?’ -- which leads to a section on how to make your own jewelry.
The e-commerce items -- mostly clothing and accessories -- are purchased using ‘Anna points’ bought by grownups using credit cards, thus teaching kids to shop without consequence. Perhaps they’ll later add the section about going to juvenile bankruptcy court.
More noble is the Federal Trade Commission’s YouAreHere site that sounds like it’s going to be about geography, but instead was created to teach kids to be responsible consumers. Through games and animated vignettes, it preaches about the virtues of competition, the evils of deceptive advertising, and the effect of supply and demand on pricing.
There are also self-promotional history lessons about how the FTC broke up diabolical monopolies. At one point, an animated character says with deadpan sincerity about the agency: ‘I’m glad they’re here to help.’
The only thing missing was the Lone Ranger riding off into the sunset.
-- David Colker
Screen grab: Shoplikeanna.com
