Consuming Kids: Protecting Our Children from the Onslaught of Marketing & Advertising

by Susan Linn

Book Overview

With the intensity of the California gold rush, corporations are racing to stake their claim on the consumer group formerly known as children. What was once the purview of a handful of companies has... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400079993
• ISBN13: 9781400079995
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Towards an end to the commercialization of childhood

"Consuming Kids" by Susan Linn builds a solid case against marketing to children. As a Harvard educator specializing in psychiatry and a children's entertainer, Ms. Linn is in an unique position to understand how corporate marketing harms and exploits children's psychic vulnerabilities for profit. Written for a general audience, the author inspires and encourages us to join the campaign to protect children from commercial exploitation. On the one hand, Ms. Linn's feigned sense of outrage and overly reliant use of rhetorical questions tends to make some of her arguments appear somewhat contrived. For example, the author relates to us her shock upon discovering that businesspeople at a particular professional marketing conference were principally concerned with gaining market share and not with the best interests of children. While her descriptions of some of the invasive techniques that have been cooked up by marketers to cynically manipulate children in service to the corporate bottom line are objectionable, few but the most myopic readers should be surprised. On the other hand, the facts remain indisputably on Ms. Linn's side. The author cites numerous studies that document the negative consequences associated with marketing junk food, alcohol, violence and sex to children. To cite just one example, we learn that the habitual viewing of wrestling programs on TV is highly correlated with risky behaviors among boys including reckless driving, drinking and fighting. The author is at her best towards the end of the book as she applies her analytical skills to consider how young people might be conditioned by the marketing industry into a state of compulsion and consumption to the point where their ability to participate in meaningful democratic discourse has been irreparably impaired. Ms. Linn goes on to provide us with a list of worthy organizations that are dedicated to the struggle of curbing the marketing onslaught in order to help build a better future for our children and ourselves. I recommend this informative and persuasive book to everyone.

Excellent

This book has really helped us to open our eyes and look at our current culture and how it might impact our new son. It covers media and mass marketing and how unscrupulous marketing to children has become. Before I read this I didn't understand just how insidious some of the marketing is and I would just mark parents who complained about it as "a little crazy or too strict". I know of parents who are experiencing some of the issues brought up in the book: the wrestling and anger mgt problems, girls trying to dress too old etc. And these kids live in good homes, with parents trying their best to raise them right. As I read the book I started to make correlations all over the place. I think the author hit the issues spot-on. Because of this book we do NOT turn on the TV when he is awake anymore and make purchasing decisions more wisely. I originally checked this out of the library, but decided it was a keeper and purchased it. I am also recommending it to many of my friends of kids of all ages.

The branding of children

Parents, grandparents, teachers, caretakers, and anyone who cares about children and the future of our nation, must read Susan Linn's, Consuming Kids, and take action. At it's core, Consuming Kids, examines the negative affects that marketing and advertising have on children. The disturbing fact is that marketing to children is a booming industry that is essentially profiting from programming children. The question Linn presents to the reader is: who is responsible for shaping our children? Is it McDonald's? Is it the Worldwide Wrestling Federation? Is it Pepsi? Is it Barbie? Linn argues and I agree with her, that today's generation of children are not basing their identity or values around those of their parents or friends, but are rather being shaped by brands and large corporations. I myself am a student of media and marketing, having chosen a major in Communication Arts. In addition to this, I have spent my past six summers as a full-time nanny, and one day hope to be a mother myself. Why is this so important? All of these credentials provided me with the ability to read Linn's book from many different perspectives, however, in the end I received the same message no matter through what lens I was looking; marketing to children needs to stop, not only for children's benefit, but also for the benefit and well-being of society. Linn brings a new perspective, as a mother and an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Linn also serves as Associate Director of the Media Center at Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston. Her background allows her to speak from a mother's perspective, while also utilizing her experience in psychology when examining some of the tactics in campaigning and marketing to children. She successfully finds a balance between the concern of a mother and a deliverer of facts, making her a reliable and credible source. Through multiple personal examples, in addition to statistics and data, Linn reveals the harms of marketing to children. Linn reflects on an era when children spent their time playing outside and creating fantastic imaginary worlds; however, as Linn points out, today a child cannot even read a popular novel, such as Harry Potter and bring his/her own imagination to it. Harry Potter has been constructed for them, no need to imagine what Hogwart's School looks like because they can see Harry Potter's entire world by watching the movie. Essentially Linn shows the reader that children are becoming programmed by the media and advertising. No longer do they stretch their minds and think for themselves, but rather they have become desensitized and need to be constantly entertained by way of television, video games, and computer games. When I nanny in the summers, the phrase "I'm bored" is uttered by every child in the family usually multiple times a day. My suggestions to play outside, color, or play a board game, are met by whines and responses of "I don't want to". Instead

All parents and teachers, please read!

This wonderful book tackles a huge topic concisely and sharply. Linn exposes the many ways children of all ages are marketed to by advertisers (even in our schools) for the sake of naked greed. She also does a fine job of articulating why all of this is bad for children and for society in general, and she backs it all up with evidence from psychological studies. Her tone is not shrill, but there is an urgency to this book that demands our attention; the rampant commercialism that is swallowing our children must be stopped. There is hope, if we start taking some action. Reading this book is a start.

A good primer on how marketers manipulate children

This book is a good short course in the shameless tactics companies use to market products to children of all ages. Linn goes "undercover" to a marketing convention and gives the reader an idea of the mindset of the typical marketing person's attitudes. Her undercover reporting along with references to industry journals show the marketing industry's complete lack of regard for how their messages affect children. The book is intentionally short on advice to parents; it's not intended as a manual for how to deal with marketing. Linn repeatedly says how marketing to children results in parents constantly having to say "no" to things. I wonder if this is as big of a problem as the author suggests. We all have to say no constantly to choices that are pleasing but bad for us. Adults know that they must produce a good or service to get money to buy other people's goods/services. This fact of life ought to be explained to children at a very young age. Responsible adults allocate certain amounts of money to each of their needs and wants. Why not give kids an allowance of some sort. If as children they spend it on something they really don't want, it is better that they learned the lesson then than grow up to be adults thinking their existence is defined by much pricier toys. With this lesson children might learn to save their money and only spend on things they really like. They might learn that putting their money toward something they believe in is more pleasing spending it on consumer products. When I have children, I will revisit this review to see if I was hopelessly naive and optimistic about children's ability to make the right decisions on their own.I don't have any thoughts as to how parents should deal with marketing the glorifies violence (including media relations from the US military) (...). These are age-old problems that are intensified by media technology. I think, however, that the same media technology can provide information challenging harmful marketing. I am very circumspect about Linn's suggestion of keeping computers out of kids bedrooms, especially after they have developed critical thinking skills. At some age, hopefully not to young, kids are going to be exposed to all kinds of crap and in the end it will be up to them to make the right decisions. Again, check back in 20 years to see if my take is simplistic. In any case, Consuming Kids is worthwhile to read as a warning about mainstream companies' willingness to exploit children to sell their products.