A couple of weeks ago, Luke and I went to the grocery to give Mommy a break (from both shopping and us). I’m not usually allowed to go grocery shopping because I always blow the budget with a bunch of junk food or other stuff that wasn’t on the list (”But honey, they had frozen pizza on sale, 10 for $20!!). The irony of all this is that I am the one that originally, after much math and price checking at a couple of different stores, set the budget amount. Oh well.
Anyway, I grabbed some Spaghetti O’s to throw in the cart for lunch for Luke some day that week, and he told me I grabbed the wrong ones. “Daddy, I want Shrek ‘Speggy O’s’!”
You could have knocked me over with feather. Bethany had told me that he always asked for stuff with Shrek or Lightning McQueen (from the Disney/Pixar movie “Cars”) on it, but it never really sank in until he asked me for it.
He is not even three years old, and he’s asking for food with a cartoon character on the label?!
He doesn’t watch network, cable, or satellite TV (because we don’t have it), so he never sees ads at home (he watches a little bit at grandma’s). But seeing his favorite characters on food labels is enough for him to want that particular can, even though it is twice the price of the regular can that has the same stuff in it.
I am appalled, to say the least.
I am a big fan of the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood. They are an organization that has helped open my eyes to the fact that marketing is now aimed at children. I don’t want my boys to become infected with the “gotta have more stuff” bug.***
I highly recommend joining the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, and taking action against companies that market to children. The things they are marketing are NOT consistent with the values that I hold dear, and I’m putting a stop to it.
Here are some other great resources about marketing in general and how it affects us:
Article on child marketing on Get Rich Slowly
Article about general marketing on Get Rich Slowly
So now I pose the question to you readers:
If you have children, are you concerned about the effects of marketing on them? Why or why not?
If you don’t have children, are you concerned about the effects of marketing in general? If you are planning to have kids, will you limit their exposure to marketing? Why or why not?
I look forward to your thoughts!
***I am not immune to this bug. I wanted the nursery theme for our newborn, Brennan, to be Classic Pooh. Sigh.
