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| "Instantly, I felt connected. I saw moms who were in the same stage of life, also needing assistance and affirmation� Not only did I find answers, I felt wanted and needed. I made friends. True friends. My kids made friends. Others valued my opinion as a mom." |
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Written by Stacy Spies
Mothers' Center of Central New Jersey
What if I told you that Elmo is part of a larger movement that
- wants your kids to be overweight
- wants your kids to develop eating disorders
- wants your kids to act violently
- wants your kids to see other kids as sexual objects?
I�m kidding. Well, sort of.
Rest assured moms, Elmo doesn�t really want these things for your kids. He�s being used by marketers just like our kids are.
After attending the Stop the Commercial Exploitation of Children Conference in New York City on February 14, 2004, I�ve begun to look more closely at what my child is being exposed to every day. After the first hour of the conference, I was in the throes of an �I�m a terrible mother� attack. By the end of the day, I was just plain angry at how companies use our kids. My family�s joke about �the cult of Elmo� and my 18-month-old�s fascination with him no longer seemed quite so funny. I felt sick to my stomach as the 20 speakers made compelling arguments that Elmo, along with so many other endearing characters, is being used to �push product� (marketing speak). The fierce competition and financial incentive to catch a share of our children�s attention has brought even PBS into the commercial sphere of marketing to children.
I�ve never been one for conspiracy theories, but the words of Enola Aird of The Motherhood Project have stayed with me: �This is not something that is just happening; people have made pre-meditated decisions to harm our children.� Marketing to children is a predatory practice. Rose Dyson of Canadians Concerned about Violence in Entertainment discussed how the toy industry teaches its members how to market to �pre-moral youth� (toy industry speak). Children are more vulnerable to advertising than adults are. Marketers are evidently aware of the 1982 study that recognized that children under 8 years of age cannot distinguish between a commercial and a television show.
Parents are overwhelmed by the pervasiveness of advertising and therefore may not even notice the extent of it. Parents feel like they�re losing the battle against the marketing machine. Forces outside the family are shaping children�s values and choices. What�s a parent to do?
How do they reach our kids?
� Product Licensing. We�re all familiar with this method. Think of how many Cat in the Hat items you saw last winter.
� Product Placement. In this familiar practice, products are inserted into a television program or movie. But, do you know that math word problems in one company�s textbooks involve the purchase of Nike sneakers?
� Co-Branding. Think Barbie Pizza Hut Playset.
� Viral Marketing, also known as �Open-Mouth� Marketing. Posing as kids, marketers talk up products in internet chat rooms. Marketers also approach �alpha-kids� (trendsetters) in schools and playgrounds, and offer them free products in exchange for the child promoting the product to his or her peers.
� �Grass roots marketing.� Companies build relationships with schools, churches, etc. Has your child gone on a field trip to a supermarket and come home with promotional material? What about a field trip to a photo studio where portraits are then taken?
� Program-Length Commercials. Made legal after children�s television was deregulated in 1984, companies such as 4Kids, distributors of Pokemon cards, now control the Saturday morning block on Fox.
� Advergaming. Companies such as Kraft and Nike integrate products into computer games.
� Channel One. In return for providing video equipment and televisions to schools, this company requires that all children must view 12 minutes of Channel One commercials and news every day. This is the equivalent of one week of lost instructional time per child each year. Furthermore, some of the commercials� content is for R-rated movies and other age-inappropriate material. Jim Metrock of Obligation, Inc. made a compelling argument that the lost instructional time does more damage to education than any benefits the gained A/V equipment might provide.
What does this do to our kids?
� �Problem-Solving Deficit Disorder,� as defined by Diane Levin of Wheelock College. In order to always have something new to sell, toys have become more specific and less open-ended. For example, Etch-a-Sketch used to encourage children to create designs defined only by their imaginations. Now, Etch-a-Sketch contains a computer chip that prompts children to draw suggested images. Levin states that this type of play has caused the process of imaginative and problem-solving play to be lost. She argues that the quantity of ADHD diagnoses is not so much reflective of an increase in medical conditions, but is more a reflection of how our society has put constraints on children�s thinking.
� Disrupts the relationship between parents and kids. Through advertising, kids are presented with an authority figure other than the parent. Children no longer trust that Cereal X isn�t good for them because the television commercial says it is good for them.
� Sexualization. With many toys aimed at girls, play is about looking pretty and acting older than they are. For example, Bratz dolls, which were universally condemned by conference speakers, socialize at the Bratz Runway Disco. The dolls sit at the bar and sip drinks out of martini glasses. (Parents are supposed to be reassured that the underage dolls are drinking smoothies). Another example is �Lingerie Barbie,� which was introduced to woo 12-and-over girls who consider themselves too old for Barbie. However, �Lingerie Barbie� is placed on store shelves right alongside Barbie dolls targeted at younger girls.
One speaker posited that the pressure to look sexy might contribute to some girls� eating disorders out of the feeling that they don�t match up to the images they see in the media. These images have detrimental effects on boys, too. Boys are harmed because they end up thinking that girls and women should look like images in the media, impairing their ability to have healthy relationships as adults.
� Makes violence the focus of play. Although I was aware that some video game content was unsavory, and I (sadly) took the violent content as a given, I was not prepared for the compelling video presentation given by Daphne White of the Lion & Lamb Project. White provided a synopsis of the most popular video games and their misogynistic and racist content. What struck me was that the games� content would be unacceptable in the movies, even those with an R or NC-17 rating. The lack of an enforceable video game rating system and the popularity of these games with even elementary-school-age boys contribute to the problem.
� Poor nutrition, poor dental care, obesity. Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest stated that 4 out of 5 ads aimed at children are for sugary cereal, snack foods, candy, soft drinks, and fast food. Wootan added, �food manufacturers and chain restaurants use aggressive and sophisticated marketing techniques to attract children�s attention, manipulate their food choices, and prompt them to pester their parents to purchase products.�
So, now that I�ve alarmed and perhaps depressed you with this information,
What you can do:
� Let people know what you have learned here. Sponsor a meeting at your Mothers Center, school, church group, scout group, etc. to educate people about the excesses of media and advertising.
� Teach your children media literacy. Teach them the techniques advertisers use to compel them to buy something (or nag you to buy it for them).
� Call your school board and find out if Channel One is being viewed. If so, demand that it be removed from the schools. Kudos to New York State, which has never allowed Channel One in its schools.
� Call your congressperson regarding the FTC and advertising to children. Let them know that we disagree with marketing to children under the age of 8.
� Make it known to companies that these practices are unacceptable. Write to the companies (Dads and Daughters has done this especially well), attend stockholder meetings, and refuse to purchase products that are advertised in an unsatisfactory way.
To end on an upbeat note, my daughter still begs to watch Elmo and I let her. He�s still sweet and she considers him a friend. However, I know now that I need to be vigilant to make sure he isn�t being used to talk her into doing anything I don�t want her to do.
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 Click here for the MS Word file of resources on the issue of commercial exploitation of children.
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