Corporations Campaigning to Exploit Youngsters as Consumers, Author Warns
by Ed Thomas
January 10, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The co-founder of a coalition working to protect children against marketing manipulation warns that merchandise ties with the recent Chronicles of Narnia movie are just part of out-of-control marketing appeals to children. Her group describes the recently released Disney film as just one of many "Trojan Horses" in contemporary society that market junk food and junk products to children. Christian psychologist Dr. Susan Linn is the author of the book Consuming Kids: Protecting Our Children from the Onslaught of Marketing and Advertising (Anchor, 2005) and co-founder of the "Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood" (CCFC) advocacy group. She makes no secret of her stance that children of the current generation need to be shielded from business's attempts to exploit them.
But while protecting children from those who would exploit them as consumers is necessary, Linn admits it is not easy. "In 1983 corporations were spending about 100 million dollars annually marketing to children," she says, "and now they're spending about 15 billion."
That's $15 billion, used entirely to bombard children from the time they wake up with the message that consumerism is good, the author asserts. All of which, she adds, creates a formidable challenge for today's parents.
"I think it's never been harder to be a parent in modern times than it is today, and today's parents are coping with things that our parents never had to cope with," Linn says. But she advises that, rather than despair, mothers and fathers along with society as a whole need to look closely at the kinds of businesses that target children for their products.
"I think that we really need to question the ethics of corporations who will target children and manipulate them for profit," the Christian psychologist says. "And yes, parents have responsibility. But what is society's responsibility to children? I think we need to ask that."
The Boston, Massachusetts-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is a national coalition of concerned parents, educators, health-care professionals, and groups working to counter the harmful effects of marketing to children through action, advocacy, education, research, and collaboration. The Campaign supports the children's right to grow up without the undermining influence of rampant consumerism -- and the rights of parents to raise their children that way.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
