Phones Have Changed, but the Girls Have Not

The phones have changed a lot since their invention and, naturally, so did the advertising for phones. After all, how could you advertise the last model of the trendiest cell phone by using commercials from the 1960s?

However, Rachel Campbell and her colleagues from University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, have revealed that teen girls aged 14 to 17, although they are attracted by the cool and hip images of cellular phone advertisements, nevertheless they have said that a series of 1960 advertisements for Bell telephones reflected better their actual experiences as users.

These 1960 ads were aimed at teaching young ladies how to use a telephone, including helping friends with homework and talking about boys. Many of the teens interviewed identified with these ads and liked the focus on the importance of friendship and responsibility. This contrasts with the freedom-filled world presented in many of today's cellular phone advertisements. According to these teens, this freedom was not a reality to them because they viewed their opportunities to 'go out' as limited. They have also said that they have less freedom than their male friends.

Moreover, Campbell found that the cell phones are also linked with the idea of safety. Most girls were given cell phones by their parents to keep them safe. Most of the teens recognized their parents' worry to be justified and emphasized wanting to be good, responsible daughters.

Although some of the girls admitted to occasionally wasting their parents' minutes, "fibbing" about where they were, or refusing to answer the cell phone's ring, "these actions never deviated far from what was expected by their parents. They still carried the cell phone and called home. They just wanted to create a space for themselves. With the cell phone many even said they 'felt safer'," Campbell said.