Cards and debt marketing aim for pink

A trend as old as online shopping, inserted in a financial culture that sees women suitable for buying, little to saving, recipients of a purely playful and superfluous market. The first alarms date back to 2001: the explosion of shopping via the internet, without the related control and education tools, had already put them on alert twenty years ago. The British Baines and Ernst, specializing in debt management, reported in 2001 a 209% increase in women between 18 and 30 who turned to society for help out of unsustainable debt situations. There were those who subscribed multiple credit cards directly online, accumulating over £ 30,000 in debt in just a few months. At the time, consumer associations warned that shopping on the internet must be treated exactly like shopping in physical stores. How have we changed in these twenty years? Consumers (or rather: consumers) have become more savvy, but so have sellers. The mechanisms of online shopping have evolved and, thanks to social media, have become increasingly pervasive: every post, every captivating photo, every beauty and lifestyle advice brings with it the direct link to the purchase page. The pandemic has led to an escalation, with domestic seclusion and the need for evasion resulting in outbreaks of compulsive shopping. In the last quarter of 2020, domestic credit card debt in the United States reached a total of 819 billion dollars, an increase of 12 billion dollars compared to the previous quarter. 90% of adults have a credit card, and the average debt per family is over $ 5,000. For the most part they are debts accumulated with the sum of many small purchases, a form of debt that particularly affects women, traditionally left on the sidelines of financial education, portrayed as impulsive buyers, targeted by media campaigns that focus on the self care to the cry of “you deserve a little vice”, recipients of advertising and influencer marketing who play on the insecurities that can be cured by the latest cream, that containment bikini, miraculous herbal teas. All accompanied by the psychological factor: talking about money is still seen as a bad thing. Even the buy now pay later brands have understood this well. At the height of the pandemic, at the end of 2020, Klarna came under the crosshairs of the British advertising authority for an Instagram campaign, particularly aimed at a female audience, in which it linked online shopping (obviously using its splitting system) mental health, encouraging the purchase of futile goods “to improve the mood.” Another BNPL company, Laybuy, aims to offer financial education pills to women, but while on the surface proposes to free the talk about money from the stigma of inappropriateness, it encourages you to take control of your finances through purchasing power. It is no coincidence that the Klarna logo, which with the third round of financing in nine months has just reached the valuation of 45.3 billion dollars, becoming the largest fintech in Europe and the second in the world, is a reassuring millennial pink. . All to give the idea of ​​a playful and guilt-free experience. The debt that piles up, however, is all too real.