By Rachael Bailey
Gordon College News Service
Making a Christmas list as a seven-year-old was never a
problem for me. Complete with giga pets (in every color), an ice cream maker,
cabbage-patch doll, a skip-it, and the Lion King soundtrack, the contents of
this list consumed my mind from their first television ad till the long-awaited
moment on December 25th when I could tear these packages apart.
Fifteen years later, I imagine these goodies might be of little
interest to today’s seven-year-old. Sure, they were toys I eventually lost,
became disinterested in, or maxed out battery life, but at Christmas morning I
didn’t care. I replayed in my head the commercials depicting best friends,
elated by the responsibility to feed their giga pet. Once the gifts were opened
and enjoyed, however, my father wisely reminded us not to place our value in
them. We were not, after all, entitled to
them.
The American Psychological Association (APA) recently
reported that in the U.S., children under the age of eight are mentally incapable
of comprehending the messages elicited in televised advertising. Nonetheless,
retailers’ aim is to sell no matter what and so children are unknowingly buying
into a 40 billion dollar industry. Parents give in so children have more and
more spending power every year. As this permeates our culture, veteran advertisers
target a younger crowd every year.
I’m worried that television ads are merely a fraction of the
industry devoted to child marketing. A larger impact comes from television
shows geared toward children and preteens, product placement, the rise of cell
phone use at a younger age—to name a few. These new media are becoming the
“norm” for kids, places where they learn to get what they want and “grow older”
younger.
In a psychology class, I recently watched a clip from “Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood,” a documentary exposing how
children are manipulated to want and beg for what they see advertised. Today
marketers use a strategy called “365-degree immersive marketing,” where
researchers film children in every element—from the supermarket to their homes
when they wake up to the playground. These marketers study how they can reach
children from a 365-degree standpoint, so they don’t even have to move to get their
messages.
As children remain plugged into a digitized,
entertainment-filled sphere of society, they are barraged by messages at a
younger and younger age, and in the process, they begin to feel entitled to these
gifts.
Even cell phone companies have changed their marketing
scheme to appeal to children and establish brand loyalty early on. A Pew Internet
and American Life study in 2010, reveals that 75 percent of teens owned cell
phones. While 66 percent of kids in 2010 got their first cell phone before
their 14th birthday, almost 30 percent of today’s 12-year-olds go
their first phone before age 10. I had mine when I was 15. And with today’s
smart phone advancements, advertisements are at their fingertips.
Inevitably, this media correlates with self-indulgence,
instant gratification, even children’s weight. Now that marketers are taking
advantage of a power that children don’t even know they have, I’m afraid today’s
children may grow up without ever learning the dangers of a materialistic
culture.
On Christmas morning after I played with my cabbage patch
doll and fed my giga pet, I was taught what every malleable mind needs to
understand. We are privileged—not entitled to presents on Christmas. Someday these
things will fail and disappointment
us.
Of course, this line between blessings and indulgence
belongs not with the media, who will continue to sell, but with parents who hold
the reigns and monitor how their
children are bombarded by daily marketing messages. My dad taught me how to
respond to the ‘stuff’ and that’s a gift that has lasted long after the
holidays.
Rachael Bailey, a
communication arts major from Barre, VT, is a Fellow with the Gordon College
News Service and will graduate in May 2012 from Gordon College.
No comments:
Post a Comment