Commercials Are Everywhere

This week we’re looking at consumer issues related to kids and the environment. Commercialism and the buying of stuff is huge among kids, and has negative consequences. The Campaign for A Commercial Free Childhood notes the following:

• Kids aged 4-12 spent $30 billion on purchases in one year – and that was back in 2002.
• The average kid sees about 40,000 ads on television each year, not including ad placement in shows.
• Research shows that until about age 8, kids can’t grasp the scope of advertising. I.e. they have no clue they’re being sold to. Some research shows that kids aged 12 and up, including teens still failed to recognize advertising placement in many shows, print ads, and even in some commercials.
• A recent study noted that the more materialistic a child, the less likely they were to participate in eco-activities, like turning lights off and taking shorter showers.
• That same study noted that materialistic children tend to be less happy, report anxiety, and feel less secure than less materialistic children.

Marketers do control the country, and our kid’s views – any doubts? Check this out…

• The American Academy of Pediatric Dentists accepted a $1 million grant from Coke, and then (surprisingly) decided that, “Hey, Coke’s not so bad for teeth as we thought.” Lame.
• According to Commercial Free Childhood, the Cat In the Hat movie contained about 181 product pushes, not including food.
• Channel One (remember that show in middle school?) shows regular junk food ads and is shown to more than 8 million teens yearly.
• One review of school supplies from corporate funders, found that over 80% of the supplies had biases for consumption or commercialism of some sort.

You can check out the entire Commercial Free Childhood 28 page report to see research sources and learn more. Later some ideas about what we can do to fight this massive consumer idealism.

Most organizations against childhood commercialism note that you should turn off the TV and quit buying junk food – which is sort of like a band aid, and not very useful in my opinion. I have some other ideas I’ll share later.