Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 12:00AM Man bites dog, product consumes child
Trends | 5 Comments First published in Eternity newspaper
It was the morning of my son’s seventh birthday when I first began to sense the true impact of consumerism on my kids. We’d woken up at the customary ungodly hour and were perched on the end of the bed watching him open his presents. Number Two son had made no secret of the thing he’d hoped to receive for the nine months preceding the big day. Happily we’d been able to both afford and locate that present, so we were anticipating some big smiles. We got them – he literally screamed with delight. Then just as quickly, he turned the box over to show his brother the pictures of the other things he wanted. What followed was an animated discussion about what they were looking forward to for Christmas, for their next birthday … The actual contents of the box had been forgotten. At the very moment they might have been celebrating what they had, an advertisement had moved them on to what they were yet to get.
I’m not idealistic. I don’t believe that in an ad-free world children would become models of contentment. I’m a Christian and a parent. I’ve seen resentment brew over the number of chips left on a plate neither child intends to finish. However the increasing integration of children into a world shaped by consumption, and the earlier age at which this is occurring has me wondering whether monasteries are not such a bad idea after all. Nowhere is it more obvious than in my particular area of expertise, the world of film and television.
At a recent preview screening of Green Lantern I arrived to find a showbag on my seat. Inside were complimentary snacks to encourage me to enjoy the film, as well as a selection of the toys that would accompany the film’s release. The DC Comics characters had been shrunk down, shrink-wrapped and appropriately labelled: “Suitable for Ages 4+”. Strange, I thought, considering the movie itself was rated M because it contained material the Australian Classification Board describes as “… recommended for people with a mature perspective.” Tortured, screaming death scenes were one example. Yet children who couldn’t see the film were actively being encouraged to engage in the storyline because distributors could see a potential market.
Parents may control the purse strings, but kids hold the heart-strings. The New York Times reported in 2005 that American “Tweens” (8-12 year olds) ‘heavily influence’ more than $30 billion in other spending by parents, and so “…80% of all global brands now deploy a tween strategy.” The Christian Science Monitor reports that the combination US children under 12 and teens influence parental purchases totaling somewhere between $130-500 billion a year. Marketing to children has become a major cash-cow because of what Dan Cook, Assistant Professor of Advertising and Sociology at the University of Illinois, and the author of Lunchbox Hegemony, sums up as their ‘pester power’:
“That high-pitched whining coming from the cereal aisle is more than just the pleadings of single kid bent on getting a box of Fruit Loops. It is the sound of thousands of hours of market research, of an immense coordination of people, ideas and resources, of decades of social and economic change all rolled into a single, ‘Mommy, pleeease!’”
The cultivation of children as consumers won’t come as a surprise to Australian parents. Merchandise from Harry Potter, Star Wars, Cars and Toy Story fill whole aisles at K-Mart. Programs like Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder ensure our kids can eat, drink and dream about their characters around the clock. Clive Hamilton from The Australia Institute says that ‘Tinys’ is now a recognised shorthand in marketing circles for children aged 0-3 years, and he refers to a recent British study that shows for one in four children the first recognisable word they utter is a brand name:
“Babies too young to walk and talk are not too young to be imprinted with advertisers messages … The lounge room is the kindergarten of consumerism.”
And when they get to their actual kindergartens consumerism can find further reinforcement. My children regularly bring home ‘book club’ order forms that are virtually indistinguishable from Target toy catalogues. My favourite offerings from the educational giant Scholastic include the All-Access Totally Unauthorised Mega Movie Stars handbook and the Ben 10 Bingo game, which “… improves site-words and memory skills!” – of program titles, presumably.
A professors at Texas A&M University cited by Sarah Schmidt in Branded Babies has argued that there is an advantage in the development of young children as consumers because it helps them “… function in a marketplace at an earlier age,” – a place where they are likely to find the satisfaction of “… most of our needs.” However I’d argue that whatever the perceived social or economic benefits for introducing children to retail therapy, the net result is a spiritual deficit.
Advertising’s fundamental doctrine is that whoever you are, whatever your means, you don’t have enough. Through it children are taught a lack of appreciation for what they have and instilled with a consuming desire for what they don’t. Marrying products with likeable characters and powerful storylines about life truths leads to mixed messages. As Clive Hamilton puts it, economic values are increasingly ‘colonising’ other values, so that “… ethical decisions have become economic decisions, despite a nagging feeling that putting a price on some things actually devalues them.”
If children are raised with the understanding that they are what they own, then depression is not far away when their desires outstrip their means. In fact a study conducted by Britain’s Office for National Statistics found a strong link between low household income and mental health problems:
“Children in deprived areas were more obsessed with money and shopping than youngsters from better-off homes. More than two thirds (69%) of poorer children said that they only wanted a job with a high salary.”
Furthermore, if the ability to consume is considered all-important, then anything that comes between kids and their ability to spend will be treated as a challenge to their identity and right to self-determination later in life. And what might this say for the prospect of having children themselves? Ask Porsche. They promoted one of their new vehicles to Generation X with the tag-line:
“Porsche’s new baby. An excellent reason to delay yours.”
There are practical steps that parents can undertake to inoculate children against addictive consumption. We’ve tried a few at our place: resisting the urge to reward with things and substituting relationship instead; tying presents firmly to special occasions and associating them with their givers; talking about ‘pay’ rather than ‘pocket money’ so kids learn the connection between earning and owning. But beneath all of this lies the Biblical idea of a real lifetime warranty.
Accepting the passing away of ‘things’ is a great way of reminding kids that nothing lasts here on earth. Talking frequently about Heaven as a real, permanent place where ‘moth and rust do not destroy’ shows the shallowness of consumerism and creates a longing of a different sort. Jesus told his disciples that advertising the merits of eternity has the benefit of re-orienting more than our eyes:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
Reader Comments (5)
My kids are 7, 5 and 3. The older two already are displaying the above. And yes, book club vouchers are toy catalogues. Half the books are just spin off merch from TV shows or movies. The classic example is the book my son requested last year which is just a book version of a popular Pixar film. I was upset my wife bought it afterward. "That's not a book," I told him, "that's a movie we already have on DVD" and as a book it was apallingly written. Of course he didn't get it. We've also found there is a big difference between ABC kids shows and comercial stations. The ads for toys make they say, "I want that!" at every ad break on the comercial stations. They can watch the ABC all day and never say a word. The real issue is as parents, we're modelling materialism... even as Christians. When we can work out how to beat it ourselves, then they will follow suit. Until then, we are the masters of their disaster.
thanks so much, mark, for yet another thought provoking and heart changing article.
Hey Mark,
Interesting now we are in Hong Kong and on a literal technology fast for 10 weeks it is only our youngest who is not really coping and is demanding "things" - at 6 he is our biggest consumer (always wanting branded toys etc) and our other two -- 9 and 12 -- could really care less. It really does seem like the marketing to little children is stepping up. He is fascinated with movies he is not allowed to see (Green Lantern, Thor, Captain America et al) and is always asking why he can't see them.
One of our challenges we have realised while we are here in HK is that we need to really spend more time and energy really relating and teaching our smallest how to aclimate to an environment where we don't have access to the technology we have at home, help him detox from consumerism.
God is really teaching me as a father that his little mind really needs rest and recuperation from Western excess and "stuff" - we are reading two Bible stories every night and it is really beginning to sink in that "where your treasure is, your heart will be also".
Thanks so much for this though-provoking article Mark.
Know that what you do impacts us all, even on a sabbatical in Hong Kong.
God bless mate!
Thanks guys, glad to know it's a helpful article. For what it's worth, the info in this article is only a fraction of the research I've turned up in this area. it's very disturbing how detailed the approach is to bringing children into the consumer fold. If it weren't for God I would feel somewhat overwhelmed as a parent.
I'll be presenting the rest of the info in a lecture series during various Summerfests this year, so if you're in a beachside suburb and happen to see my name on a flyer, drop by and say hello.
PS: Adiran, you're excused :o)