Marketing to Children
What's in a commercial?
Marketing to children is commonplace these days. Marketers have become savvy to the buying power children have over their parents` dollars. Saturday morning cartoons are now replaced with six to eight channels of cable television targeted directly to children. Radio stations such as
Disney Radio
are devoted strictly to children’s music and songs. Kid Bopz music CD’s are produced and marketed as quickly as the top 10 charts change.
So what does all this mean?
This means that our children are targets. Advertisers feed off of the underdeveloped emotions of our children. Messages of how to be cool with a new music player, cell phone, snack or cereal are imbued in every moment of a child’s media exposure.
Is it all that bad?
Maybe and maybe not. It is important as a parent or step parent to recognize these occurrences and discuss with your children the facts. Explain to them that the nose running across the park to get to that sugary cereal, does not mean it’s a healthy breakfast. Yes it makes them laugh, but they must understand that the ultimate goal of this ad is to make them want to spend money on that product; not to improve their lives.
As a diligent parent, you try not to let them watch too much television, play too many video games or computers, or listen to the wrong kinds of music. However, even with diligence, the compounding of each encounter means that…
As parents and step parents...
It is of the utmost importance that we communicate with our children. Frankness on their level is the best possible solution. Children learn at an early age that those action figures weren’t nearly as fun as they looked on TV or that getting that cool new bracelet everyone is wearing didn’t suddenly make them different.
Open communication about the world around us makes our children feel more comfortable talking to us about the world around them. A simple yet effective tool for teaching and guiding our children through today’s world.
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