Blog #2: Commercialization of Children

As a child, I can remember questioning my parent’s rules regarding what television networks I was allowed to watch and wondering why I was given a time limit for the amount of TV I could watch each day. After watching the movie “Consuming Kids”, I began to see the reasoning behind my parents’ rules and restrictions regarding television.

Released in 2008, this documentary sheds light on the multi-billion dollar marketing industry targeting children. By saying that children are able to convince their parents to buy them anything by throwing fits, marketing executives have begun to orient their marketing tactics towards the younger generations. These strategies are used to sell anything and everything from educational products to violent video games and junk food. “Consuming Kids” showcases the use of neuroscience, anthropology, and psychology in these commercials and hopes to spark an ethics debate about the impacts this marketing has on the well-being of children.

Personally, this documentary scared me. Young children are so impressionable and will usually believe anything an adult tells them because they are taught to trust in authority. Being young and naïve, kids don’t realize the hidden messages behind what is being shown to them in various TV commercials and even in the shows that they watch. They only see the fun aspects of the products being shown to them and instantaneously believe that they cannot live without the product.

“Consuming Kids” showed a home video of two young girls around the age of three at a grocery store. They were picking out gummies and were drawn towards the Scooby-Doo packaging. The man behind the camera asked them why they chose that particular type of gummy and the girls’ response was that it was the best. When asked what made these gummies better than the other brands on the shelf, the girls replied that they had never tried these gummies but knew they would be better than the rest because they were shaped like various Scooby-Doo characters. The girls’ reactions are a perfect example that these marketing tactics work.  Without even having tried the product, these very young girls knew that these were the gummies they wanted because they trusted that their friend Scooby-Doo wouldn’t lead them astray. Another way “Consuming Kids” highlighted this form of target marketing was when they gave the statistic that the SpongeBob variety of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is the most popular. In both of these instances, companies are using the familiarity of these characters to draw children in to their products.

Another alarming part of this documentary to me was when they cast a spotlight on the company Girls Intelligence Agency (GIA). This company is a marketing firm that “sponsors” girls’ sleepovers. The party hosts/“special agents” are given a box of various products to distribute to their guests and sample questions to ask regarding the quality of the products. The agents then report back to the company their findings about their friends’ opinions of the products. To the company, both parties benefit from these events, but it seems a little strange to me. The girl hosting the sleepover is expected to ask questions that probe into the thoughts of her guests, all to determine the future success of a given product.

Overall, I thought that “Consuming Kids” was a very informative documentary. It succeeded in its goal of making me question the ethics involved in marketing towards children. Looking back, I now understand why my parents were so strict about TV time and the channels I could watch. They didn’t want me to be exposed to all of the various commercials and shows that would inevitably make me want the latest and greatest products.

Blog #1: My Exciting Spring Semester

The words “Spring Semester” make most people think of warmer weather, seasons changing, trees and flowers budding, and the noise of song birds early in the morning. Having been raised in Vermont, I know that these familiar characteristics of spring don’t usually start to show their faces until the end of March, or beginning days of April. In Vermont, winter likes to lurk for as long as possible. Vermont residents sometimes get a taste of warmer weather for a week in March, only to return to the typical snowstorms and mid-twenty degree weather. (Average Weather in March For Burlington, VT)

For the first time in my college career, I looked forward to the arrival of this semester, but for reasons other than the prospects of warmer weather. This semester is the first time that I will be attending the same college for two consecutive semesters. I am beyond excited for all of the many “firsts” I am about to experience. One of the most exciting aspects of returning to Saint Michael’s College for another semester was not having to pack up my entire life and move it out of a dorm room, which can be an extremely stressful endeavor. I was also excited about not having to say goodbye to all of the people that I had developed relationships with, as I would be seeing all of them again in a month’s time.

Upon finishing the first week of classes, this semester appears to be my most challenging one yet. While I am excited about each of the four classes in my schedule this semester, all of them seem as though they will require spending ample time in order to receive the grades that I expect for myself. By far, the class I’m most excited about taking this semester is my Marketing class. Many children imagine themselves in multiple professions before they decide on their future career. However, for me, marketing has been my dream since middle school. I love the challenge of taking an ordinary product and dreaming up ways to make it appeal to its target market. The creativity that is involved in making a product stand out to customers over all of the competitor’s products intrigues me. I’m looking forward to taking this introductory marketing class to confirm to me that the career path I’m going down is the right decision.

            While my classes this semester are going to prove challenging, I hope to hold myself to high academic standards and always strive to do the best that I can. Academically this semester, I’m hoping to maintain my GPA by getting grades no lower than B’s. However, more important than grades, I’m hoping that I am able to retain the material I learn, because it will apply to by future career. Aside from grades, I want to continue to enjoy my college experience. While I have met many people so far during my time at St. Mike’s, I know that there are plenty more people I’m going to cross paths with. I’m looking forward to all of the experiences that this semester has in store for me!