Looking back, I remember the TV ads on Saturday mornings during the mid- to late-1970s. Man, things have changed. Advertisers are at war, and they have the equivalent of GPS-guided munitions aimed straight at our kids.
Juliet B. Schor's Born To Buy
- Lots of kids are taking marketing surveys during school hours
- Marketers are hiring your kids' classmates (or maybe your kids!) to spread a buzz about a new product
- Marketers actively market teen stuff to tweens (pre-teens) because the teen stuff is more profitable
- Researchers are now going into your children's closets and bathrooms during bath time (with your permission, of course!) to get inside their brains to help their clients tailor advertising campaigns
- That sleepover your daughter was invited to? It might be marketing research
- Low-cost or free educational materials, provided by companies with an axe to grind, are part of your children's curriculum — and the content may be biased or just plain wrong
- Advertisers don't need or want your approval — they just use the “nag factor” of your kids to get them on their side, against you
Children are immersed in advertising now. It's a hard battle to overcome this bombardment, especially when one of the recurring themes in advertising to the young is anti-adult! Kids are firmly in the marketers' crosshairs.
Schor interviewed marketing representatives close to the action, and the answers are eye-opening. She also presents her own carefully-conducted research that relates child consumerism to the child's well-being, and reaches the conclusion that the consumer culture is deeply affecting our children.
If you're concerned about arming yourself against consumer culture for your children's sake, know thine enemy! Check out Born To Buy
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