UAE teens

UAE teens spend triple world average on fashion

A study of the Global Teen Insights Programme, Mena Edition 2010, found that UAE teens, between the ages of 12 to 19 years, spend three times as much as their global peers across 23 countries on clothes, apparel and make-up. The study reveals that teens in UAE spend an average of $71 (Dh260) a month on fashion, compared to the global average spend of $21.

A 2011 research conducted by UK’s Bailey Review of Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood, to unravel and tackle issues around the premature sexualisation and commercialisation of children, found 40 per cent of parents said they had seen things in public places (shop window displays, advertising hoardings) that they felt were inappropriate for children to see because of their sexual content. Over 50 per cent felt that celebrity culture, adult style clothes and music videos are encouraging children to act older than they are.

According to the results of a survey conducted by the Department of Education in the United States last year, 88 per cent of parents of five to 16-year-olds believe that their children are under pressure to grow up too quickly.

International surveys of teenagers have found that the average girl begins using beauty products at round the age of 13, prove records from the NPD Group, a retail market research firm. In the United States, tweens between the ages of 8 to 13 spend more than $40million a month on beauty products. In the UAE, Emirati teens and tweens spend an average of $25 each per month on makeup products, compared to $6 per teen in other countries.