A 'Fairy Liquid' advert in a Bob the Builder Mag
Mothers’ Union are working on their commericalisation of childhood campaign (see below for more information) and will soon be producing a resource to help families understand and navigate the commercialisation of childhood. But they want the practical experiences of the impact advertising has on the children in your family, and how you handle them, so that they’re not just spouting theory, but offering practical, lived out ideas that work and will help stop others feeling overwhelmed by the impact of the commercial world!
So what are your
- top tips for dealing (in a practical way) with the influence of marketing and advertising on the children in your family; and/or
- Scenarios when you or the children in your family are particularly influenced by marketing or advertising?
Mothers’ Union are looking for ideas to be submitted by the end of July. If you use the ‘comment’ facility on this blog, all ideas will be passed to our Social Policy Unit at Mothers’ Union.
If you want some ideas about what other people have said before submitting your own, read the comments on the blog of one of our Mothers’ Union members here. But please remember, we want your ideas most of all.
Background:
Helen Goodman, MP, authored a Charter about commercialisation of childhood 3 years ago, but the campaign is ongoing. The points raised in this charter are familiar to all Mothers’ Union supporters who have used the Media Awareness material in the past, and the issues are as urgent as ever. For example, the need to provide support to parents, carers and teachers and accessible resources to help them understand the impact of commercialisation on children and suggest ways they can offset it, for example ways of helping children understand the media (Item 1.5 in the Charter).
To view a summary of the recommendations and a call to sign up to them read http://www.compassonline.org.uk/campaigns/campaign.asp?n=683
My tactic was to start a conversation as soon as an advert break came on the TV, and to cut the sound so we could hear one another.
I can’t remember my parents ever “dealing” with the issue when I was growing up in the USA, in one of the golden ages of advertising and in one of the most advertising-heavy cultures on the planet.
So, before responding/delving in, I’d be interested in the goal of such “dealing”?
To fend-off buying requests? To explain what Kotex actually sell? Why toilet-paper ads invariably feature puppies or cuddly bears? You speak of “commercialisation” but other than the undeniable one-way barrage of advertising messaging directed _at_ kids in general – which I remember from 1975 much as much as what I see on TV now – beyond that I don’t know what it entails other than it is being viewed by a baby boomer audience who saw the same thing…