Big Spenders: How Corporations Turn Our Kids Into Consumers

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Big Spenders: How Corporations Turn Our Kids Into Consumers

James Hansen, 5, can't read yet, but he has no problem identifying the logos of his favorite products. For a recent homework assignment, the kindergartner had to list all the words he knew by sight. As his mother, Barbara Brabec, of Studio City, California, held up food items and toy boxes, James began shouting out their names. In no time, they had filled a notebook page with brands he recognized, including Cheerios, Legos, Lunchables, and Skippy. At that moment Brabec realized just how much her son is influenced by marketers. "I was amazed by how many product names he knew," she says.

She shouldn't have been. Young children are bombarded by advertisements -- on TV, on buses and billboards, in stores, and even at school. In fact, according to James U. McNeal, Ph.D., author of The Kids Market: Myths and Realities, the average child recognizes more than 200 logos by the time he enters first grade.

While preschoolers were once seen as having a limited effect on their parents' purchases, they are now widely viewed as little people with big buying influence. Companies spend an estimated $14.4 billion annually to advertise and promote their products to your kids, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. And it's working. A 1999 study revealed that children become brand-conscious as early as age 3, and half ask for specific brands by age 5.

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Big Spenders: How Corporations Turn Our Kids Into Consumers

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Of course

you don't have to have the television set on, or if you do, you can make sure they only watch videos you select. You can teach your kids from an early age to make their own snacks out of healthy ingredients, and teach them that there are more interesting things to do than watch the boob tube. I realize there are advertising posters in cities, but how much impact do they have if the kids haven't been indoctrinated by the tube first?

[whatelseisnew]

2. How common it is for parents to use the tv as a pacifier

I've seen countless parents sit the kid(s) in front of the tube while they do something else. It's a dangerous babysitter.

[La_Serpiente]

3. kick

:kick: