Media Giants in the Form of Twins

This week’s topic, specifically Croteau and Hoyne’s “The New Media Giants”, explores the fact that many large companies wish to expand and buy more to have greater power in the industry. This made me think of an example of expanding power through advertizing that revolves around the infamous Olsen twins. Love them or hate them they both have marketed themselves from birth, resulting in their multi-million dollar corporations. They have milked their image for everything its worth, from dolls, movies, television, CD’s, Dualstar Pictures, Clothing Lines, Perfume, and even play station games. They have worked hard to preserve their image in front of the screen and even now most of the revenue they make is from behind the scenes. They have begun designing clothes that are affordable and usually appear in stores like JC Penny or Macys. By marketing themselves at such young age they have enabled themselves and their companies to grow astronomically over time. This reminded me of other mass companies that buy out smaller companies to gain more power in the industry but the only difference here is that one is a company and the other is the image of two young girls. I would think that this business world would take a large toll on the lives of these twins because everything they do is watched closely. We also mentioned in class how each company isn’t linked to a specific person so it is a different process to sue, the Olsen twins however are directly linked to their companies and all the blame goes directly to them if they are to be sued. Overall, I find it disturbing to think that these girls have been used for profit from birth.