Commercialization of Today’s Teenagers

It’s a tsunami; your kids are subjected to over 3000 commercial messages a day*. The marketing messages directed to kids and teens are both direct and subtle, and absolutely never-ending. Your kids, in fact, have such powerful purchasing clout that psychologists, anthropologists and behavioral scientists examine and research how they think, act and influence buying decisions. No wonder today’s parents feel such pressure from their kids for the latest gizmos, gadgets and designer brands.

Here is a sobering fact:

• Children now spend $40 billion dollars of their own money and influence another $700 billion in spending annually – roughly the equivalent of the combined economies of the world’s 115 poorest countries. *

Government regulation of policies to protect kids from excessive advertising changed in the early 1980s when the Federal Trade Commission lost authority to regulate advertising and marketing to children in the FTC Improvement Act. The net effect of this change is shocking:

• In the two decades prior to deregulation, kids’ consumer spending increased at a modest rate of roughly 4% a year. Since deregulation, it has grown a remarkable 35% every year, from 4.2 billion dollars in 1984 to 40 billion dollars in 2008 – an 852% increase.*

The Media Education Foundation is a non-profit that produces documentary films and other educational resources to inspire critical reflection on the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media. Their documentary Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood traces the dramatic changes that have occurred in our kids’ lifetimes. You have felt the powerful shift in marketing, although it might have been subtle and beneath your radar screen – at least that’s the way it progressed for me. When the Teenage Mutuant Ninjas Turtles were entertaining my young son I don’t remember being upset that McDonalds offered related toys in their Happy Meals. But that insidious act was just the beginning of what has become a tsunami of unrelenting product promotions. It’s madness now, and with so much media being consumed by our kids, it’s helpful to highlight this issue to parents. Personally, I wasn’t aware of the telling statistics behind this seemingly gradual shift toward materialism in our younger generation. But I have wondered as our society has become, and particularly as our teens have become so materialistic – are we are doing a poor job as parents? Is it our fault? Is there something fundamentally wrong or shallow with our kids? It’s far more complex than that.

It’s bad enough that kids are targeted because of their impressive influence on what items and what brands families purchase, but marketers go even further now when they infuse products with social meaning. This marketing approach doesn’t focus on a product’s features or use, but rather infuses the product with symbolism. As stated in the materials from the Media Education Foundation: “Marketers promote a set of highly materialistic values about what it means to be ‘cool,’ …embedding values in the messages that glamorize self-indulgence, instant gratification and narcissism.”* Their techniques, research and knowledge about human behavior are pretty sophisticated, and directed toward maximizing your child’s influence on purchasing behavior.

Juliet Schor is on the Board of Advisors for The Media Education Foundation, and an eloquent and informed spokesperson on this issue. Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood offers an opportunity for classroom and kitchen table discussion about this issue. They have posted the entire transcript online and they also offer helpful study guides to generate insightful examination of this issue.

What can parents do? How do you counter the incessant, subtle and not-so-subtle messages your kids receive? How can we as parents and professionals counter the culture and teach our kids about the values that really count and that matter the most?

There aren’t any easy answers, for sure. I invite your thoughts, suggestions and resources. And I’ll keep trying to share good ideas with you.

*Quotes and statistics come from the Media Education Foundation Study Guide for Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood.