Advertising And Ethics
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When it comes to spending money on consumer goods, Madison Avenue apparently never underestimates the power of a whining child. And as the advertising industry increasingly aims commercial pitches directly at the very young, more and more companies are turning to child psychologists to help them hone their message.
Some specialists in child development and psychology are disturbed by the trend. Dr. Allen Kanner is one of them. A clinical child psychologist for nearly 20 years, Kanner works with children from the inner city and the wealthy suburbs. But regardless of where they come from, Kanner says, the children he sees share one thing in common: a growing, even insatiable, desire for material goods.
"In my practice I see kids becoming incredibly consumerist," said Kanner, who is based at the Wright Institute, a graduate psychology school in Berkeley, Calif. "The most stark example is when I ask them what they want to do when they grow up. They all say they want to make money. When they talk about their friends, they talk about the clothes they wear, the designer labels they wear, not the person's human qualities.
"I see parents in this context, too," Kanner continued. "They come to me and say their kids are depressed and ask for violent video games or the food they see on TV. Parents say they feel in conflict. They want to say no, but they don't want to have their child be upset with them."
It's not just the pervasiveness of marketing campaigns aimed at children, Kanner said. Nowadays advertisers are making their pitches to younger and younger audiences, many of them not yet out of diapers.
"We became concerned about this because the practice is mushrooming, and the age of the children targeted is dropping rapidly," he said. "It's about 2 years old now."
Do ads directed at toddlers work? According to Kanner, they do. "Recent studies have also shown that by the time they are 36 months old, American children recognize an average of 100 brand logos," he...
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