Some facts on American teenagers

American teens love to shop (especially female teens). On average they make 15 shopping trips each fortnight. Typically, teens prefer to shop with friends (rather than their parents). A remarkable characteristic of such trips is that they buy a specific product a majority of the time. The product categories most often purchased are clothes (jeans, sneakers), entertainment (movies, music), food (fast food and groceries) and personal care products. The latter seem to be the most coveted ones.

Teens are very suspicious of things that are aggressively advertised and distrustful of products from the established “big brands”. One brand though, that has successfully repositioned itself toward teens, is Pepsi Cola’s Mountain Dew, which went from being an old-fashioned drink several years ago to a very popular soft drink among teens today. Another trendy style of late is the 70’s look that includes flare pants, dyed T-shirts and native American accessories.

Whether or not teens are brand loyal has been an on-going question. Teens appear, however, to be brand conscious in competitive product categories (e.g., apparel, soft drinks, fast foods, etc.). According to some polls, teens’ classifications of the coolest brands can change dramatically from year to year.

Teens are the most receptive age group toward new technologies and have been classified as “early adopters”. What is new technology to adults can be classified as mainstreams to teens. This is especially true of computers, the Internet, video games, CD players and other electronic products.

Teens are the heaviest users of the Internet with 89.2 percent having already been online. According to a recent Newsweek article, “cyber teens” access the Internet for various purposes. When questioned 77 percent of all teens would rather look something up on the Internet than in a book. An additional feature for teens on the Web is it allows them to escape parental supervision (this is especially true of elder teens) and can hide a teen’s identity. At present, more male teens use the Internet than female teens (there are less compelling female oriented websites). On average, teens surf the Internet 5.1 hours per week primarily at home, at school and at their friends’ home.

Teens are also more ethnically diverse than the overall U.S. population. The percent of Hispanic teens, African-American teens and Asian-American teens are well above the national average. According to a recent Gallup poll, 56 percent of all teens are thoroughly displeased with race relations in America.

Teens are also likely to be friends with peers of a different ethnic background. A recent USA Today poll reports that 57 percent of teens today have dated interracially up from 17 percent in 1980.

(Adaptado de www.medialifemagazine.com)

Os adolescentes americanos