“Get ready with me for school”: childhood and adolescence commercialization through branded beauty videos on TikTok

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine children’s and adolescents’ “Get Ready With Me” beauty videos on TikTok as a visibility-driven form of consumer socialization. Guided by four research questions, the authors analyze how promotional formats shape engagement, how performer profiles align with these formats, how adult participation structures brand display and which themes organize their narratives. They show how creators strategically perform authenticity within algorithmic visibility regimes, where metrics recalibrate the boundaries between play, labor and commerce in youth culture.

Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a mixed-methods design integrating quantitative engagement analysis and qualitative interpretive inquiry. A corpus of 198 TikTok videos featuring children and adolescent creators was examined. Non-parametric statistical tests (Kolmogorov−Smirnov, Mann−Whitney U and Friedman) were used to identify engagement disparities between branded and organic content, while grounded theory techniques guided the thematic construction of emergent narrative and socio-cultural patterns.

Findings The results indicate that authentic or non-sponsored content elicits higher engagement than overtly commercial posts, demonstrating the performative premium for authenticity within algorithmic economies. Four principal dynamics were identified: the aesthetic codification of selfhood through beauty routines; the normalization of aspirational labor among minors; the transformation of parental mediation into a participatory promotional practice; and the rearticulation of childhood as a commercially productive social identity.

Originality/value This study identifies two mechanisms linking platform capitalism to youth beauty culture: a disclosure penalty, whereby overtly paid collaborations generate lower engagement than seemingly organic routines, and parental promotional mediation, where adult presence correlates with increased product display. These dynamics show how algorithmic visibility rewards commercially legible authenticity, positioning youth-branded participation within regulatory grey zones. The findings support child-centered platform governance and advertising frameworks that address not only explicit sponsorships but also routine-based, family-mediated, quasi-organic promotional practices.