Oh, Baby?

While adults have long been expected to maintain certain grooming standards, particularly as social media and the selfie culture continues to reign, the emerging “baby beauty” trend (targeting parents of those aged four years and under) is a recent phenomenon in the industry, according to consumer insight firm Canadean.

The company’s research demonstrates how regionally, parents in South and Central America are the most likely to be concerned about their babies’ appearance, with 9 in 10 parents in the area stating that their child’s looks are important.

The least child image conscious consumers are in North America, where 7 in 10 parents have the same attitude.

When it comes to country analysis, Russians took first place, with 98% of parents having the same attitude, whereas New Zealanders came out as the least image conscious, with 53%.

Personal care brands need to position baby beauty products as fun, rather than image-enhancing, according to Canadean.

“The fact that even in the least child-image conscious country over half of parents with babies are concerned about their children’s looks shows how important this consciousness around baby aesthetics has become,” said Veronika Zhupanova, an analyst at Canadean. That said, brands need to navigate carefully so as to avoid entering the terrain of unethical product positioning while still aligning neatly with consumer motivations, she noted.

“An optimum strategy here would be for manufacturers to promote a holistic approach to a child’s image, placing the primary emphasis on babies’ health, wellbeing and happiness,”  said Zhupanova. “Doing so will help parents avoid feeling overly pressured about their children’s image, as well as to prevent children from being obsessed with their looks from an early age.”

To further avoid being seen as encouraging image-consciousness among the youngest generation, brands need to focus on the emotive side of the product, such as how it facilitates bonding between parents and children, as opposed to actually enhancing a child’s looks.

“Launches such as child-safe nail polish, for example, should be marketed as facilitating mother-daughter bonding, encouraging a healthier approach to a child’s perception of their own image,” added Zhupanova.