Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/the-anti-parent-in-our-midst-are-advertisers-winning-the-war-for-childrens-hearts-and-minds/5015938/
Every day most young children spend several hours with a caregiver who teaches them to be greedy, self-indulgent, dissatisfied, and disrespectful.This trusted friend, authority figure, and role model is not their parent or early childhood educator. In fact, he is working to undermine most of the values parents and teachers try to instill.
I’m referring to the enormous, detrimental power of advertising over the minds and souls of children today.
There’s a reason advertisers spend billions targeting this most vulnerable audience. Not only do they engrain countless brand loyalties while small brains are still forming, they also teach children that happiness lies in buying things, in getting what you want, when you want it. “You deserve a break today,” “Have it your way,” “Obey your thirst,” “Just do it,” “Get your own box,” “Hang with a cool bunch.”
It’s no accident that many kids always seem to be nagging, pouting, wheedling, and whining. Marketers call it “pester power.” Companies even hire psychologists and behavioral scientists to help them target children’s vulnerabilities and exploit their relationship to their parents.
It starts young. Research shows that children as young as six months can recognize brands, so marketers are aggressively going after this “zero-to-three demographic” of ...