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                                         Commercialization of Childhood

The media is a powerful force in anyone’s life. It can control what we think, what we do, and how we feel. The media is important because of its constant domination of our everyday lives. It is a dangerous energy that is not going to go away. Its pressures are felt in the lives of adults as well as children. Many adults are aware of the media’s strong grip on our cognitive processes; they are more able to deflect the penetrating power of the media. Its pressures are felt in the world of the child more so than in the adult world. The media has the most influence over the everyday development of a child. It influences children in many different ways and some of these ways are: the way they play and interact with other children, the way they interact with their parents, and the material items they wish to own. Susan Lin (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA) said that instead of children having their bodies owned by companies like in the 20th century, now companies are attempting to control their minds.

The media, in large part, has influenced children regarding how they interact with each other. They tell boys and girls how they should act with each other and with the opposite sex. In U.S. culture it is portrayed by the media that boys will play outside with trucks or guns, and pretend to be like the “manly” figures in our culture. Girls are portrayed to play inside mostly with dolls, and have tea parties with their stuffed animals. If a boy wanted to have a tea party with his stuffed animals, he would he would be made fun of because he wanted to do something “girly.” If a girl wanted to play outside with a truck or a gun, she too would get made fun of by the girls and the boys because of her interest in trucks or guns. The media tells children that these are the specific roles that each child must take or they risk being an outcast.

The media advertises to children at a very young age because they believe that once they have them hooked on one product they will continue buying that same brand name for the rest of their lives (also known as branding). It is possible to switch brands once a child has grown up, and advertisers know this, so they try to make their commercials appeal to all age groups so there is less of a chance of them switching brands. The media knows that toys are a commodity and a very profitable one. According to a professor of marketing from Xavier University the purpose of advertising is not to appeal directly to the parents, but to teach children how to influence and manipulate their parent’s purchases. Advertisers know that if they target a certain age group with a specific toy and one friend gets that toy then all of their friends will want it. Even if the parents can’t afford the toy the child still thinks that they need this toy to feel accepted by his peers.

When I was a child I wished that I had everything, I wished that I would get a certain doll or a cash register machine among other things. My friends all had those toys so I didn’t see why I couldn’t too. When I did not get either of those toys I was angry to say the least. In fact, I still complain that I never got a toy cash register when I was younger. This is just an example of the powerful influence the media can have on children. The media makes children greedy and makes them believe that they can have whatever they want, no matter the circumstance.

Many parents and children in our current society have a difficult time relating during play. Children spend an average of two and a half hours in front of the television every day. Children watch shows with characters that they can imitate outside of the show. Many shows are made just to have a character that they can merchandize to children to make them spend their money and their parents (97% of American children ages six and under own products based on characters from TV shows or movies ). Because of these shows the children tend to play with these character dolls in the same ways that the show illustrates them. This eliminates probably the most precious gift a child possesses: his imagination.

"The sick child as viewer/consumer has replaced the healthy child of play, sports, and make-believe", said Michael Brody (University of Maryland and chair of the TV/Media Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry). Brody noted that while storytelling is the very essence of play, with toys as its catalyst, today's toys, with their commercial links, actually act as "story blockers".

This also makes it very difficult for parents to play with their child or children. The parents have trouble playing with the child and these specific toys because they are not watching the shows and they don’t know how to play with these toys the “right” way. Children are influenced by the media in all different ways, and society makes it very hard for a parent to protect their child from the media. It is a negative force in a child’s life; they know more about children than parents do. They know their consumption patterns and they know more about how their mind works. It is distressing when the people who care least about children know the most about them. The media can be used for good, but it will never happen because the advertising industry is all about profit and if they change their ways they may lose money.

Since 2002, media corporations have spent over twelve billion dollars annually to target children. Because of this overexposure of the media towards children many people are fed up with it, and are willing to try and get strict laws against direct advertising to children. Alvin Poussaint said that, "the trend (advertising towards children) is accelerating and it's time we responded honestly to marketing's impact on our most vulnerable citizens--children". Many organizations have formed in response to the impact of the media. Most of these groups have formed to lobby for children’s rights against advertising agencies. Associations like Stop Commercial Exploitation of Children (SCEC) and the Alliance for Childhood are very critical of the media’s presence in a child’s life. They, along with twenty five other organizations with the same ideas (taxes and regulation or total bans on advertising to children), protested an advertising awards banquet. At this banquet they were giving out achievement awards to advertising agencies that send harmful messages to children. Some previous winners have been campaigns for violent toys, and for foods very high in sugar and fat. According to Diane Levin (Wheelock College, Boston, MA) the food industry is linking food and entertainment. They do this particularly with movie and cartoon characters. “Brand-name foods and drinks appear on toy cars and helicopters and fast-food chains issue ‘educational’ card games.”

The media is everywhere. It is in our schools, our homes, and in our towns. They are on our public transportation, at the stores, and in our churches. We can’t get away from the media’s influence. Some people have no idea what type of influence that the media has on our society and on them. Children are the most vulnerable to the media and the only way for parents to help their children to not become infected by the negative media is to educate them when they are young. Let them know that the media is working against them and the people they love. Teach them that they don’t need material things to be accepted and loved. Teach them that money is not everything and it does not buy happiness. The advertising industry and the media are not going anywhere so the only thing that we can do is teach. They need to know that the media’s unrelenting advertising of unhealthy food is helping the major health issue of child obesity. Girls are especially vulnerable to the media. Studies have shown that “Increased exposure to ‘oversexualised and underfed images’ in the media is correlated with increased dieting and body-image problems in girls”. In order to overcome the media’s negative images children should learn media literacy in school. This would help them become aware of the overbearing presence the media has in one’s life. This may help to avoid the negative images that girl’s have about themselves if they do not have the “perfect” body. It will also help men become aware of the fact that there are not specific roles that they must play in order to be seen as masculine. It could also help with the ever growing problem of childhood obesity. To me, learning about media literacy would be the most practical class to ever take because unlike math or science, you can use the tools you learn in a media literacy class for the rest of your life.

There are no citations because I just realized that the footnotes didn't work! So I will put those in tomorrow (wednesday).