the beast preys on kids
"It's in the nature of the beast. The real challenge is deciding whose
job it is to bell the cat."
OK, we got a beast, but who's to put the bell on the hungry lion if not
the state? If you trust the brainwashed parents have a fighting chance
against marketeers, clowns, psychologists, and other swindlers then you
are you are a fanatic of free markets, even while the lion preys on
children...
'Children, Quart argues, have been transformed into "victims of the
contemporary luxury economy." To her, the villains in this case are
obvious: They are the corporations that heartlessly market to underage
consumers, slavering after the annual $155 billion in discretionary
income Quart says they control (although the source of that figure is
not cited). Some of her anecdotal evidence is chilling, such as the 150
school districts nationwide that have accepted soft-drink companies'
sponsorships, taking relatively small donations in return for exclusive
on-campus access to the districts' thirsty young customers. Quart
reports that one young rebel who wore a Pepsi shirt to his school's
Coca-Cola Day was suspended for "insurrection."
Still, isn't criticizing a marketer for targeting a group of affluent
consumers, whatever their height, equivalent to deploring your cat for
targeting songbirds? It's in the nature of the beast. The real
challenge is deciding whose job it is to bell the cat. Quart blames
Congress for its failure to regulate advertising to under-18 consumers.
She notes with approval that Sweden bans commercials on kids' shows, a
move that demonstrates that "many European countries are much more
enlightened than the United States in their attitudes and laws toward
branding aimed at minors." But that's a spurious comparison. Unlike the
United States, where commercial jingles and slogans have been part of
the cultural fabric for more than half a century, Sweden didn't allow
any commercials on television whatsoever until 1991. (That ban had one
unexpectedly lovely unintended consequence. Marketers, desperate to get
buyers' attention, started plastering their brand logos on brightly
colored hot-air balloons and setting them aloft over Stockholm.) And
the current ban on marketing to kids doesn't actually work; to
circumvent it, two Swedish channels simply beam their signals from
ad-friendlier England.
The author seems to put more faith in legislative action than in
parents' own ability to monitor their children's exposure to
advertising and limit their purchasing power. Sadly, she may be right.
Many parents, whether motivated by guilt or wrong-headed fondness, seem
unable to resist their children's demands for expensive branded
merchandise, even when those desires wreak havoc on the family budget.
A few days ago, I was minding the cash register at our
elementary-school book fair when a distressed single mother asked me to
total her purchases. She had planned to spend only $60, but her son's
wish list totaled almost $100. I offered to take back the most
expensive volume, a $28 hardcover version of the Guinness Book of World
Records. "It'll be out in paperback soon," I assured her. "He wants
what he wants," she responded flatly, digging in her purse for a few
more crumpled bills. How can we expect our children to build up any
sales resistance when we ourselves are unable to say no?'
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0212.austin.html
***
> Children learn from their parents. If their parents have healthy diets,
> the children probably will, too. And if Mommy and Daddy are tubs of
> lard, the children will be tubs of lard, too.
Not only kids learn from their parents--themselves helpless consumers--but they
also learn directly from the junk food commercials that prey on their gullible minds.
Just The Facts about Advertising and Marketing to Children
Advertising Expenditures Spiral Upward
In 2001 US advertising expenditures topped $230 billion, more than
doubling the $105.97 billion spent in 1980. (1)
Given that the 2000 Census reports 105 million households in America,
this means that advertisers spend, an average of $2,190 per year to
reach one household. (2)
Ad Industry Spends Billions to Target Kids
Marion Nestle, chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies
at New York University, estimates that $13 billion a year is spent
marketing to American children - by food and drink industries alone.
Food advertising makes up about half of all advertising aimed at kids.
(3)
Channel One's twelve-minute in-classroom broadcast, featuring 2
minutes of commercials for every 10 minutes of news, is compulsory on
90% of the school days in 80% of the classrooms in 40% of U.S. middle
and high schools. Companies pay up to $195,000 for a 30-second ad,
knowing that they have a captive audience of 8 million students in
12,000 classrooms across the country. (4)
Little Big Spenders – Children and Teen Spending Skyrockets
Children's spending has roughly doubled every ten years for the past
three decades, and has tripled in the 1990's. Kids 4-12 spent $2.2
billion in 1968, and $4.2 billion in 1984. By 1994 the figure climbed
to $17.1 billion, and by 2002 their spending exceeded $40 billion.
Kids' direct buying power is expected to exceed $51.8 billion by 2006.
(5)
Older kids, 12-19, spent a record $155 billion of their own money in
2001, (6) up from $63 billion just four years earlier. (7)
The "Nag" Factor Works – Kids Influence on Parents' Purchases
Continues to Grow
In the 1960's, children influenced about $5 billion of their parents'
purchases. By 1984 that figure increased ten-fold to $50 billion. (8)
By 1997 it had tripled to $188 billion. Kids marketing expert James
McNeal estimates that by 2000, children 12 and under influenced family
purchases to the tune of $500 billion. (9)
Kids are Glued to the Tube and Bombarded by Commercials
It's estimated the average child sees more than 20,000 commercials
every year - that works out to at least 55 commercials per day. (10)
Children spend a daily average of 4 hours and 40 minutes in front of a
screen of some kind - two and a half hours of which are watching
television. (11)
47% of children have a television set in their bedroom. (12)
Creating Brand-Conscious Babies
At six months of age, the same age they are imitating simple sounds
like "ma-ma," babies are forming mental images of corporate logos and
mascots. (13)
According to recent marketing industry studies, a person's "brand
loyalty" may begin as early as age two. (14)
At three years of age, before they can read, one out of five American
children are already making specific requests for brand-name products.
(15)
Experts say a lifetime customer may be worth $100,000 to a retailer,
making effective "cradle to grave" strategies extremely valuable. (16)
What Do Kids Really Want?
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, children who use the
most media tend to be the least contented. (17)
In the Art/Essay Contest "What Do Kids Really Want That Money Can't
Buy?" sponsored by the Center for a New American Dream, the most
common answers were "love," "happiness," "peace on earth," and
"friends." Significant numbers of children also wanted time with
family, a clean environment, a world where people treat each other
with respect, a chance to see lost loved ones, help for suffering
people, health, and time to play.
***
“Across the planet, public health groups want to reduce the incidence of marketing-related diseases like obesity with a worldwide ban on junk food marketing to children, and with the WHO’s Global Strategy. Regrettably, the Global Strategy has come under fire by food corporations, industry trade groups, and the US government. But the FCTC process has taught us that when countries are united around protecting public health, they can prevail even in the face of the most powerful economic forces,” says Gary Ruskin, Executive Director of Commercial Alert.
Infact, Commercial Alert and dozens of allied organizations around the world have called on WHO to include a ban on junk food marketing to children in its Global Strategy. The World Health Assembly will take up the Global Strategy at its meeting in mid-May.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0427-01.htm
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