Lanna Hill: Pricey water bottles just emotional currency for parents

Ask almost any parent of a primary school-aged child what drink bottle their kid already has or wants. You’ll get one of two answers — Frank Green or Stanley Cup.

Now, call me a somewhat jaded child of the 80s, but when did our young children become so driven by brands that water bottles became a measure of status at school?

When did spending $50 or more on a water bottle become such a normal expectation for our children?

Brands have always mattered, and they’ve certainly permeated our kids’ imaginations for many decades. I distinctly remember the mild anxiety of free dress day in primary school, knowing that I didn’t have the latest fashion (a Hypercolor T-shirt for those playing at home) nor the ability to impress the “cool kids”.

Basketball was huge in the 80s and 90s, and the boys with the coolest basketball cards or the coveted Reebok Pumps were at an almost unattainable level of coolness.

But I also remember that most kids didn’t have the aspirational T-shirt or pair of sneakers. Most of us had the “normal” stuff, possibly because most of our parents were far more comfortable with delayed gratification than what today’s consumers are.

I’ll put my hand up and say that despite being brought up by sensible parents, I have drunk the Kool-Aid (out of the Frank Green water bottle) on more than one occasion since becoming a parent.

I’ve chastised myself for buying into the consumerism that shouldn’t be part of our kids’ consciousness. But I know it’s not just me, and it’s not our imagination either — consumers have become more demanding and discerning over the past 20 years, and marketers have had to follow suit by becoming more sophisticated.

Branding has become firmly anchored into our emotions rather than simply the functionality or appeal of the product or service itself. And our spending habits have shifted — the democratisation of luxury has meant that items or activities that were once considered discretionary are now increasingly “normal”.