YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

308 Advertising directly to young people started to gainmomentum in the US in the 1980s, when research documented an increase in young people’s purchasing power. This was reinforced by the increased permissiveness of parents and by the casual work that young people did in their spare time. The earnings from these jobs also allowed young people to use their par- ents’ rising purchasing power to address their own ‘individual needs’. The culture of consumerism, which is problematic not only because it is environmentally unsustainable, but also because of the “glamorisation” of commodification and falsity (in terms of its redemptive role), is also present among Slovenian young people. Specifically, although the aver- age importance of material goods compared to other aspects of life among young people is relatively low (and has even fallen slightly since 2000), material goods are important or very important tomore than half of them (53%). This is particularly true for young boys, who show a sta- tistically significantly (p < 0.05) higher level of ‘materialism’. At least two more points should be made here. Firstly, modern societies are char- acterised by the ‘demonisation’ of materialism in attitudes (and the ide- alisation of family and friendship), which is not reflected in actions (e.g. the ‘sacrifice’ of friends, family, environment, creativity in the pursuit of a career or material success). Secondly, the mentality of consumerism is reflected in indicators that go beyond the importance of material goods. Moreover, the latter can include, among other things, the very essential “roof over one’s head” and is thus not necessarily an indicator of either materialism or consumerism at all. One of the better indicators of consumerism is the concern for the rather non-essential ‘outward appearance’, to which many industries (e.g. clothing, footwear, cosmetics, corrective/aesthetic surgery, etc.) are linked. If appearance was important or very important for 64% of young people in 2000, it is important for 71.5% of young people in 2020. Among that segment, more young women thanmen (80.8%women, 63.3%men) also enjoy shopping.