The hopes of an industry in a racecar bed
It looks like some parts of the home furnishing industry might be focusing on children as the key to purchasing decisions. This is similar to what the fast food industry did a while ago.
I can see how the fast food industry was able to cash in on this. Food is regularly needed and has an intrinsic value to children. However, furniture seems a bit more abstract. It is important for a much less immediate form of comfort and on a different time scale.
In order to sell furniture properly to children it seems one would need to create social pressure. Children will need to feel about furniture like they did about teenage mutant ninja turtle gear 20 years ago. Somehow a kid needs to feel more valued if he has certain furniture.
Such a campaign strikes me as possible, but much harder than if one where selling something that could actually be carried around with children (ipod). The influence of children is indeed mighty when it comes to purchases. However, selling racecar beds seems much harder than selling video game consoles.