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Targets
My daughter is a popular kid these days. Taco Bell wants her, and so does Burger
King. […] Children are the darlings of corporate America. They’re targets for
marketers of everything from hamburgers to minivans. And it’s not good for them.
Even while I, like all American parents, am held responsible for the behavior of my
child and for safeguarding her future, corporations bombard her with messages that
undermine my efforts. […]
There’s no doubt that advertising works. Its success stories are told and retold
within the industry. At mid century the phrase “A Diamond1Is Forever” succeeded
so well in bolstering2a faltering3diamond market that by 1951, 80 percent of
American marriages began with a diamond engagement4ring. In 1970, just before
McDonald’s began telling moms that they “deserve5a break today”, annual sales
were at $587 million; by 1974 annual sales jumped to $1.9 billion.
So what’s the big deal? What’s wrong with trying to get people to buy a diamond
engagement ring or indulge in6the occasional Big Mac with fries? Well, all of these
legendary campaigns were aimed at adults, who presumably can bring a certain
amount of information and judgment to their decisions about what’s good for them.
Because children are unable to employ such judgment, they are more vulnerable
to marketing. Preschool children, for instance, have trouble differentiating between
commercials and regular programming on television. […]
I recently sat with a group of elementary school kids who all told me that
commercials do not tell the truth, yet when asked, they all had strong opinions
about which was the “best” brand of sneaker. Their opinions were based not on their
own experience but on what they’d seen on TV and in magazine ads. Advertising
appeals to emotions, not to intellect, and it affects children even more profoundly
than it does adults. […]
Today’s children are assaulted by advertising everywhere –
at home, in school, on sports fields, in playgrounds, and on
the street. They spend almost forty hours a week engaged
with the media – radio, television, movies, magazines, the
Internet – most of which are commercially driven. The
average child sees about 40,000 commercials a year on
television alone.
Children, including very young children, often watch
television by themselves, meaning that no adult is present to
help them process7marketing messages.
While television remains the major medium through
which advertisers target children, it’s no longer the only
medium. The average American child lives in a home with
three television sets, two CD players, three radios, a video
game console, and a computer. Two-thirds of children
between the ages of eight and eighteen have televisions in
their bedrooms. […]
The impact of corporate marketing on children’s lives is
breathtaking8and is expanding around the world virtually
unchecked.
Susan LINN, Consuming Kids (2004)
1. ['daəmənd]
2. bolster: stimuler
3. faltering: en perte de vitesse
4. engagement: fiançailles
5. deserve [d'z«:v]: mériter
6. indulge [n'dÃldZ] in:
se faire plaisir avec
7. process ['prəυses]:
analyser, comprendre
8. breathtaking
['breθtekŋ]: époustouflant
unit
TEXT 1
TEXT 1
Dr. Susan LINN, a psychologist and
writer, is currently the Associate
Director of the Media
Center for Children at
. Her
recent publications
include articles in the
Los Angeles Times
and
Newsweek
. Dr. Linn is
internationally known
for her innovative work using
puppets in child psychotherapy.
Harvard University
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