Danny ChaiJieun had a holiday open house for her business so I took Abby out so we wouldn’t get in anyone’s way. We went to the mall, where she can run around freely. Honestly, the mall is really kid-friendly. There’s a lot to hold their attention, and they can be loud without people getting too annoyed.
But I always get annoyed by little things when I go to the mall. For one, the smell. There’s just an overwhelming cloud of scent everywhere. Perfume, food, other stuff. I honestly think it kills brain cells; I don’t know how the people who work there can take it.
And I don’t know why, but the sight of people eating enormous portions of really fatty food and drink also disturbs me. Actually, any time there’s just ridiculous excess it makes me uncomfortable, and the mall is like a horcrux of excess in materialism and consumption. (I know I’m using the term wrong but it feels right. A concentration of something’s essence with evil undertones.) Worse, I frequently succumb to it. It’s hard for me to go to the mall and not get Cinnabon. Hence, cholesterol level of 254. High risk.
Anyway, we spent a lot of time at the Disney store. I was, not surprised, but still overwhelmed at how much space the “Princess” line took up. It’s brilliant marketing, probably evil as well. It works.
Question is, who does it work on? There was this article in Newsweek a couple weeks ago about the Disney Princess thing, and how they’re marketing hard-core. The disturbing thing: they’re marketing to grown women. The article opened with the story of a 30 year old woman who’s getting married in a Disney Princess-themed wedding gown. In fact, you can have a whole Disney Princess themed wedding. The article notes, it’s subtle the way they do it, it’s not like they walk down the aisle in clamshells or escorted by a beast. But yeah. That the marketing is effective on little girls, no surprise. That there’s such a big market for Princesses with grown women, I dunno, that feels weird.