TEENAGE GIRLS MAKE THE SALE

"Buzz Marketing" is becoming the new rage in corporate
advertising and marketing. Kids are literally being "hired"
by the hundreds of thousands to coax their peers into buying certain
products. Marketers are getting a much bigger bang for their buck
with this technique, since people trust what their peers have
to say over an advertiser’s voice on the TV or radio. Although
few people are aware of it, a full 85% of the nation’s top 1,000
marketers now use the technique. Procter & Gamble, alone,
has a force of 250,000 kids, 75% of whom are girls, age 13 to
19, who are mailed free products in return for suggesting those
products to friends. Tremor, one of the largest firms employing
this marketing technique, says it’s completely ethical. "To
be a member is empowering for a teen," says Steve Knox, CEO
of Tremor. /old_articles/school/nabbing102005.cfm