| Background:
An entire industry arose to mold
young minds to crave products, and to cast parents
in the subordinate role of financier of these
fabricated wants. James U. McNeal, a former marketing
professor at Texas A&M University , is perhaps
the most influential advocate of modern marketing
to children. "[T]he consumer embryo begins
to develop during the first year of existence,"
McNeal writes, with no hint of embarrassment or
shame. "[C]hildren begin their consumer journey
in infancy and certainly deserve consideration
as consumers at that time."12
It is not comforting to know, as we cuddle our
newborns, that there exists an industry of James
U. McNeals eager to prod them on to their "consumer
journey." Nor is it comforting to know that
there are marketing consultants, like Cheryl Idell
of Western Initiative Media Worldwide, who advise
corporations on how to harness the "nag factor"
to increase sales. Idell contends that nagging
spurs about a third of family trips to fast-food
restaurants, and of purchases of videos and clothing.
And what about the naggees? In the writings of
people like McNeal, parents exist as deep pockets
to be siphoned by kids, whose role is to influence
purchases. This mentality has become the dominant
force with which parents must contend. They encounter
it at every turn: They take the kids to a sports
event and are barraged by ads. They buy a video
for them and find that it is choc-a-bloc with
"product placements"-brand-name products
that are built into the story.
Parents feel the heavy breathing of the marketers
even on their littlest ones. Teletubbies, for
example, is an animated TV show aimed at toddlers
as young as one year. The producers portray it
as educational. But Marty Brochstein, editor of
the Licensing Letter, is more candid, calling
Teletubbies a "major big bucks opportunity."13
The show has done promotions with Burger King
and McDonald's. If that's education, it's not
the kind most parents have in mind.
From: The Parent's Bill Of Rights: Helping
Moms And Dads Fight Commercialism
By Jonathan Rowe and Gary Ruskin
Mothering Magazine Issue 116, Jan/Feb 2003
Read the full article on the history of advertising
to children here.
A recent example:
General Mills Touts Sugary Cereal as Healthy
Kids Breakfast
By Janet AdamyWall Street Journal
General Mills Inc. plans to launch a national
ad campaign targeted at children that will tout
the health benefits of eating breakfast cereal
-- including Trix, Cocoa Puffs and other sugary
ones it sells.
The campaign, expected to be announced today,
stakes out a potentially controversial stance
in the debate over who's responsible for the nation's
obesity epidemic, particularly among children.
Criticism of heavy marketing to children by Kraft
Foods Inc., General Mills and other food companies
prompted Kraft this year to stop advertising some
of its sweetest cereals to kids.
General Mills, the nation's No. 2 cereal maker
behind Kellogg Co. and the largest advertiser
to children, hopes that by playing up the benefits
of breakfast through ads on programs popular with
children it can portray itself as part of the
solution, not the problem. "We have a different
point of view than Kraft," said Mark Addicks,
chief marketing officer of General Mills. "We
think that kids should be eating cereal, including
pre-sweetened cereal."
The conflicting approaches show how the food
industry is casting about for ways to defend itself
against criticism that it is making Americans
fat. Kellogg has said it believes it markets responsibly
and sees no need for change. Other makers have
quietly shifted their marketing of some kids'
products toward adults and infused new campaigns
with messages about exercise. For example, Interstate
Bakeries Corp. has refocused kid favorite Hostess
Twinkies on the adult market.
General Mills's "Choose Breakfast"
campaign will use such ad icons as the Trix bunny
and Lucky Charms leprechaun, which will appear
on the backs of cereal boxes as part of a new
"fitness squad" that will tell kids
that breakfast can help them stay focused in the
morning and build muscles.
The company also will tack 10-second trailers
onto the end of its commercials that show kids
who claim to have been energized by eating breakfast.
General Mills says the campaign isn't intended
to push cereal specifically, but breakfast in
general. It will cite research, including General
Mills's own studies, to argue that kids who eat
breakfast perform better in school, have fewer
disciplinary problems and are less likely to be
obese than kids who eat little or no cereal.
The commercials will air on Nickelodeon and the
Cartoon Network as well as child-oriented programs
on other channels. General Mills wouldn't say
how much it will spend on the yearlong campaign.
Because the pitch includes sugary cereals like
Cocoa Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Count Chocula,
it could open General Mills to criticism that
it is seeking to mix up the benefits of healthful
cereals with others that aren't as nutritious.
Kids cereal has long been an enemy of nutritionists
because of its high sugar content.
"The makers of these cereals have done a
fabulous marketing job of making people think
that these are healthy food when these are cookies,"
said Marion Nestle, a New York University professor
of nutrition, food studies and public health who
frequently is critical of the industry. Ms. Nestle
hadn't seen the General Mills ads.
But when compared with not eating breakfast at
all, several nutritionists say that sweetened
cereals are acceptable considering that cereal
with milk gives kids calcium, protein and, in
some cases, whole grain. "Most kids breakfast
cereals are better than no breakfast at all,"
says Jeannie Moloo, a spokeswoman for the American
Dietetic Association, a professional group that
gets funding from dieticians and the food industry.
Read
the full article here.
Four Ways Junk Food Marketing Targets
Your Kids
By Dr. Joseph Mercola
with Rachael Droege
You walk through the grocery store, planning
to buy only the few items on your list. You have
just about made it down the first aisle when your
young child begins to beg for junk food item #1,
green catsup. You give in hoping it will make
the rest of the trip easier, when just as you
turn the corner your child begins begging for
another junk food item, this time sugary cereal.
Sound familiar?
Well, there’s a reason why your kids want
just about every sugary, greasy, processed food
that they can get their hands on. Since the day
your child was exposed to the outside world, through
TV, magazines, the radio--even school--they have
been inundated with the persuasive messages of
the junk food industry. According to the National
Institute on Media and the Family, advertisements
target children as young as 3 years old. As an
adult it can be hard enough to resist these marketing
ploys, but for a child to resist is almost unthinkable.
Junk food marketers spent an estimated $15 billion
in 2002 on marketing aimed at children. They seek
to push their low-nutrient foods into the heads
of children so that they in turn pester their
parents to buy the products. And their ploys appear
to be working as one out of every four American
children are now seriously overweight or at risk
of becoming overweight.
Of course, the ultimate decision of whether to
purchase junk food is up to you, the parent, but
becoming aware of some of the most obtrusive methods
junk food marketers use can help you to protect
your children from these unhealthy messages.
Read
the full report.
To Learn More:
Consumer
& Media Awareness Lesson Plans to educate
students about media manipulation
Obesity
Crisis
Food
Advertising Characters Awareness Exhibit
Cereal
advertising characters website
Food
advertising jingles awareness website
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