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"The entire infant industry is based on fear"

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Initially Googling around the idea of baby toys, we navigated down a few rabbit holes and came to this article, thinking we might groan out loud because it was another attempt to classify millennials as one group of people with exactly all the same beliefs and aspirations (which isn’t possible — not every Boomer was the same, not every X’er was the same, etc.). Instead, check out this quote:

“The entire infant industry is based on fear,” he noted, adding that Disney is “a great example” of a brand that understands its market. “You are going to buy the most expensive stroller [and] you want the best diapers. You are learning how to be a good parent, especially when you have your first child.”

After that quote, the article goes in a different direction and starts talking about the importance of telling a story and setting up brand loyalty and using social media and all that.

When we write content posts for something aimed at newer mothers, or mothers of young children, you have to walk a pretty fine line — because almost every mother is terrified that she might be doing the wrong thing, or buying the wrong thing, and she doesn’t want to think that she is (this thread kind of implies that fathers are passive in the parenting process, which I don’t actually mean to imply).

One of our old bosses, who has a 14 year-old and a 12 year-old, always told stories of having to travel to visit her husband when her child was under 1 (the first child). She was consistently terrified of doing the wrong thing at airports, on airlines, etc.

So it’s interesting — an entire industry predominantly based on the fear of the consumers within it. The only other industry you could make a similar argument about is maybe health care, and even that has some gaps in logic.

Do you think the infant marketing/overall baby industry is structured this way? Would be interested to hear thoughts.

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