C-cubed: Children of a Commercialized Culture

When I was running the other day I saw two young children, probably four or five years old, selling lemonade for $0.50 a glass, at a stand their parents had made for them. This prompted me to think about the line between teaching children' entrepreneurship and financial responsibility' on the one hand, and making them part of the 'commercial culture' on the other. A commercial culture which stresses immediate gratification and thinking only about one's needs and wants. A culture where individuals live in their own bubbles and never think about the people around them.

Perhaps because of the commercial culture, consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of the economy. We are bombarded with messages trying to get us to BUY. In the book "BORN TO BUY-The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture" Juliet Schor presents evidence that shows Corporate America embracing and conquering children's consciousness, often with dubious if not unethical means. She refers to it as "the corporate takeover of childhood." In response to the question, "in researching your book, what was your most startling discovery?" she answered that "What most surprised me were the results I got from my study, which found that the more kids are exposed to consumer culture, they likelier they are to become depressed, suffer from anxiety, or experience low self-esteem. I would have thought it was the other way around -- that consumer culture was the symptom, not the cause."

While some parents are getting concerned by this rampant commercial exploitation of children, the FTC has been, like other agencies under the Bush and Clinton administrations, abdicating its regulatory responsibility. A recent article by the WSJ states that 'FTC Tightens Food-Ad Focus; Agency Urges Companies Marketing to Children To Boost Self-Regulation." Apparently "Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday called on food and beverage companies to do more self regulation, with one commissioner saying the government could intervene if the companies don't.

.....The study found that food and beverage companies shell out some $1.6 billion to target children with ads -- a figure roughly comparable to each U.S. ad budget of marketing giants such as General Electric, Toyota Motor and Sony."

At the end of a long day, the responsibility rests with the parent(s). They have to take back their children from the long arms and devious minds of the exploitative marketers.