Amazon knows what the teens love: To buy things with their parents' credit cards.
That revelation probably didn't require a nationwide search. But it is the explicit premise of Amazon Teen, a form of Prime account that lets teenagers buy things from their parents' Prime accounts — with a parent's approval, of course.
In contrast to Amazon's blandly utilitarian interface, Amazon Teen's homepage is full of neon words splattered on top of teens doing teen things. A kid in a giraffe onesie laces up her shoes next to the graffiti-esque words "get what gets you," while another appears to be pennyboarding to prom.
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Amazon Teen debuted last year, but Amazon is now "aggressively spamming kids on Snapchat" in the same shocking green format, The Atlantic's Taylor Lorenz notes. Clicking the Amazon Teen ad's "get started button" sends a text to a parent reading "Help me get my own Amazon." From there, parents can approve their 13- to 17-year-old's request for an Amazon account linked to the parent's credit card.
From there, Amazon Teen is simple, and best explained via a video on the Amazon teen website. A kid wants new skateboarding shoes (yes, again with the boarding) and requests them on his phone. His mom gets a text, smiles knowingly, and approves the purchase. The shoes ship in a few days. The teen kisses them upon arrival.
For easier purchase requesting, Amazon has also crafted a "Teen Shop" full of "products popular with teens." In Amazon's teenage dream, youths can buy influencer-approved twinkle lights — without ever, God forbid, speaking to their parents in person. Kathryn Krawczyk
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