Grade School Fads
Do you ever wonder why fads are so common among grade school kids? While they occur throughout all different age groups, fads occur more frequently among younger kids and become less common during one’s post college years. Bikhchandani Sushil, David Hirshleifer, and Ivo Welch’s article, “A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change as Informational Cascades,” not only expresses how fads become so popular but it also provides insight as to why they are more popular among younger kids.
When a new trend is presented, each individual has his or her own opinion and information about it. These opinions may differ from person to person. As stated in Networks, Crowds, and Markets, people receive high and/or low signals before making certain decisions. These signals depend on whether or not adopting this new trend would positively or negatively affect you in the long run. Then, each individual decides whether to accept or reject this new trend based on signals they received, as well as the decisions of people introduced to the trend prior to them. It is common for people to disregard their own information and make a decision based on what other people have done instead of making this decision on their own. The article states that individuals with little experience and information of their own are more likely follow the decisions of others. Since most elementary and middle school students lack exposure, many times they are more impressionable and tend to follow in the footsteps of others. Once a few kids accept this new fad, an information cascade begins. The following kids that consider accepting or rejecting this new trend are likely to accept it because they assume that the children who have already accepted it, like it. Thus, kids will see that the rest of the population received a high signal from the new fad, discount their own information, and accept the it.
This also provides reasoning as to how some fads among young kids are simply illogical. For example, Beanie Babies became extremely popular several years ago; however, when we look back, most of us still do not understand the hype. Based on the number of Beanie Babies sold over the last 25 years, one would think they were something special that had unique qualities and features. However, they were no different than any other stuffed animal. Parents would spend about $7 per Beanie Baby (keep in mind that kids had to have more than one) for a small stuffed animal, that came with a name and birth date but it really did nothing more than lie around in a bedroom. Yet this little stuffed animal became so popular that everyone collected them. Kids loved them and parents were buying them in multiples. Looking back, the makers of Beanie Babies just got lucky. A few kids decided to accept the soon to be new fad by buying a Beanie Baby and in just a few weeks an information cascade began and millions of Beanie Babies were sold due to young kids following the decisions of their friends.
http://www.dklevine.com/archive/refs41193.pdf
http://www.badfads.com/collectibles/beanie-babies/