Girly Consumerism

Via Sociological Images comes this heinous credit card teether. It’s pink and the name on the card is “Ima Spender.” Gross. Though I suppose we shouldn’t expect better from the creator of baby high heels.
This reminds me of the Barbie “Fashion Fever Shopping Boutique” that came out a couple of years ago. The toy featured a built-in credit card swiper and a pink credit card that never ran out of money. The commercial is especially disturbing, with a chorus that sings “Buy It!” over and over again.

Transcript (of which I’m sure someone could write a whole thesis on) after the jump
Awesome…a toy that will ensure little girls grow up to have shitty credit. As someone who is going to have a daughter in the Fall – this scares me. How can we raise little girls to realize that they’re more than consumers? Sigh.
Related posts: Barbie Girls and the culture of consumption

Chorus (singing): Buy everything you want at the Barbie Shopping Boutique!
Voice-over: Barbie Shopping Boutique is a whole store with eleven shopping pieces, a check out counter and a credit card for you! It holds twenty fashion pieces that you can mix and match!
Chorus (singing: : Barbie Shopping Boutique!
Voice-over: Cool shoes! When you find the perfect outfit…
Chorus (singing): Buy it!
Credit Card Machine Voice: You have two hundred dollars!
Little girl: Pink is perfect! Another perfect outfit!
Chorus (singing): Buy it!
Credit Card Machine Voice: One hundred fifty dollars!
Little girl, holding up credit card: I love shopping!
Voice-over:You never run out of money!
Credit Card Machine Voice: Two hundred dollars!
Chorus (singing): Buy everything you want at the Barbie Shopping Boutique!