I just finished `Buy, Buy Baby`, by Susan Gregory Thomas. Wah! It was enough to make one scoop up your family and head for cabin off-grid in the hills. Marketing to children -- babies! is everywhere, and cleverly to-boot. Here Dan and I had been patting ourselves on the back because we don`t have a T.V. (and oh, boy, does this book ever strengthen my resolve to NEVER own one), but the rapt attention that Francis has with videos on the computer apparently is similar to that of a low-level seizure. Oh, the guilt! (While I had no illusion of the ``educational`` value of Baby Einstein or Elmo, it did allow me a break to make dinner or have a shower ...)
What was a revelation for me was how the character recognition (Dora, Elmo, Thomas) IS the Brand for babies and toddlers. They are not cognitively capable of following a T.V. program, but they are capable of recogizing an icon.
What was even scarier was how I, a typical anti-corporate, cynical, child-centered Gen-Xer was pegged exactly by marketing. How easily my anxiety about my parenting and my children is exploited.
Which leaves a bigger question ... why is this OK. Do our children not deserve to live in a culture that respects them and cares for them, rather than exploiting them
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