We had to read two essay's relating to commercialism and advertisement, the affect on children.
The one essay is "Lunchbox Hegemony" author Dan Cook takes a closer look at "kiddie capitalism" and the history of the child consumer.
The second essay is "Which One of These Sneakers Is Me?" Douglas Rushkoff explains in this article that the younger generation is more consumer savy, forcing retailers to rethink how they brand and market goods. But Rushkoff explains , it's a game they cannot win.
I agreed with both authors in how they perceive that the marketers prey on the minds of the young, with values and beliefs others than their parents.
I had to take views of both writers and incorporate into my claims in my essay.
"Targeting the Young"
The materials they use to create their own meanings are preprogrammed with brand identification, gender, race, and class cliché's and standards good- bad dichotomies. And, as any marketer will tell you, exposure to target market is nine-tenth of the brand battle." (p.113) Dan Cook (2008) writes in his essay "Lunchbox Hegemony". Children are being targeted by advertisements to purchase their products. Parents feel pressured with all the advertisements and are almost forced into giving in just to have peace. Children are no longer seen as children they are controlling households in a way so that they will nag their parents for the things they see advertised, thus causing strife, stress and misery in the family. It's almost as if they have lost their innocence of childhood. Children are given power and rights over their parent's beliefs. Parents should take back control of their children's purchasing behaviors.
I have noticed in the past decade or so that parents are just giving in to their children's want because the pressures of the media are too much for them to compete with. As stated by Cook, "The cultural marketplace is now a key arena for the formation of the sense of self and of peer relationships, so much so that parents often are stuck between giving into a kid's purchase demands or risking their child becoming on outcast on the playground." (Cook, 2008, p.113) Being a parent, I found myself constantly teaching my son Brandon, to be unique and not feel compelled to follow others. I never taught him the typical practices, it was always out of the norm, I encouraged him and exposed him to many cultures and practices to allow him to be well rounded and unique and comfortable in whom he is. He soon found out that his fellow peers viewed him with having his own style and mind with a very different attitude. I recognized that he soon enjoyed being different and separated himself from the mainstream and aimed to be different. While other kids wore T-shirts or hoodies because that is what all the advertisers were promoting for young boys to wear for school clothes, I refused to allow Brandon to do it. I dressed him in shirts, khaki or jeans. We as parents must not allow these corporations to identify who our kids are, we must teach our children to have high self esteemed with values is important and helps to determine the decisions we make in our life. If we become independent thinkers and choose to be different and not easily persuaded into the average thought processes, just maybe these markers will appeal to no one.
Because merchandisers use these trends to create different social stereotypes children, are left trying to define themselves by the brands. As Rushkoffs states in his essay, "Which one of these sneakers is Me" (Rushkoff,2000,p120 ) Especially with children, they are very impressionable and easier to convey these messages too: they are in a state of trying to identify with themselves it causes them to identify with an existing image, not of their own. We must be their foremost role models. It's a shame when these marketers prey on children to promote products and values in these children when the parents often disapprove. Some kids do pick up on the tactics the marketers are doing. That's when more research is done to identify these defenses in order to address these countermeasures and on it goes. (Rushkoff, 2008, p120).
Not long ago parents had the foremost influence over their households. Yes, kids did sneak and hide a magazine here and there but they were not exposed like today. Adults that were strangers could not impose values or beliefs on a child without the consent of a parent. Children were able to have an imagination through listening to the radio. It was the only from of advertisement, then came the TV which gave a visual connections for the marketers to use or sneak into the minds of children. Nowadays the electronic age makes it easier for these companies or marketers to attack your kids without you even realizing it. I remember a time when children were dependent of their family's views and morals for their development of their character, now with the bombardment of aggressive commercial culture the relationship between children and their parents are breaking down. This causes a degradation of family values.
Children are given too many choices. Children today have attitudes as if they are protected by the rules of the courts, and as parents we are just financially responsible. But you can't tell them what to do. Why? Because society has given them rights and they are reminded of them in school. I remember a time when children weren't exposed to much advertisement making it easier for parents to control what was shown to them. In essence, society is educating our children with values not of our own: whether you like it or not. Children today have a much different approach to even my generation. They are definitely informed consumers. Cook states, "What is troubling, though, is not just that kids demand goods by brand name as 2 years old."(2008, p.115) Children are ultimately getting their way, and society has taught them that a demanding attitude is an effective tool for getting their way. The culture of catering to children and the bombardment of the media has made it difficult for parents to do parenting. Society, has discreetly introduced ideas into children minds without parents' permission.
As a result children are forced upon this culture forced and dictated by the media and not from a loving family. They are stripped away from their innocence and the security of a family, for the benefits of the marketers and big corporations for their profit.
Children are no longer seen as innocent children they are controlling households in a way so that they will nag their parents for the things they see advertised, thus causing strife, stress and misery in the family. Parent must bring back the values and morals of raising a child over what these big corporations have done to the family. Parents must come to recognize that these are their kids. The government can't do parents job for them, but it certainly can give them the legal rights they need to stand up effectively to these large corporations that target our kids. They should not feel under pressure by a culture designed to nag until they give in, and to usurp the function of instilling values and morals in their kids' lives.
Can anyone give me ideas on my essay on the closing! or overall essay
Thanks Misha
"The materials they (who? ) use to create their own meanings are preprogrammed with brand identification..."
"It's almost as if they have lost their innocence."
How does this mean they have lost their innocence? Most children are never really innocent from a moral or selfish perspective. In fact children are the most self centered of all the age groups and in turn(at times) can be the most cruel minded.(though they lack the capacity to carry out truly horrific acts of cruelty that adults are capable of.)
"While other kids wore T-shirts or hoodies because that is what all the advertisers were promoting for young boys to wear for school clothes."
Also, I don't think this is a complete sentence.
"Because of merchandisers use these trends to create different social stereotypes , children are left trying to figure themselves out."
I don't know if this is what you were going for. What do you mean when you say that the children are left trying to figure themselves out? If advertisers create styles for kids doesnt that meant that they are telling the kids who they are? Thus the kids wouldn't be trying to figure themselves out but rather would be defined by the brands.
"Not long ago parents had control of their front doors."
Try rewording this perhaps to something like. "Not long ago parents had the formost influence over their households."
"For adults to try to influence kids was considered wrong and you could end up in jail."
So does that mean that parents could get arrested for trying to teach their kids life lessons? Reword this one too.
"...now with the bombardment of aggressive commercial culture the relationships between children and their parents are breaking down. This causes a degradation of family values."
"But you can't tell me what to do."
You mean "you" as a parent? Don't change to a first person perspective. Perhaps you meant: "But you can't tell them what to do."
"I remember a time when children weren't exposed to much advertismentand luring of information and products thus , making it easier for parents to control what was shown to them."
Children are ultimately getting their way, and society has taught them that a demanding attitude is an effective tool for getting their way of economic growth.
The culture of catering to children and the bombardment of the media have made it difficult for parents to do parenting.
As a result children are forced upon this world with no knowledge of what to expect.
Isn't the point that children are taught what to expect out of life from the media? So children do have knowledge of what to expect from the world but it is just from the wrong source. Don't make is sound like children don't know what to think. I gather that one of the main points of your essay is that children do know what to think because the media is telling them what to think.
Children are no longer seen as children (Break these up into two sentences here or create a transition) they are controlling their households by nagging their parents for the things they see advertised, thus causing strife, stress and misery in the family.
The last part of this sentence is a repeat of the last part of a sentence from the first paragraph. Reword it so that it is not the same thing.
Wow, Tyler, great review.
I never taught him the typical practices, but instead helped him to avoid the norm; I encouraged him and exposed him to many aspects of life, not leaving him in the care of the television.
Children are given too many choices. Hmmmm... that sounds strange. Instead of saying that, you can start this paragraph by saying: Guidance involves limitation of choices.
Or, you could leave your sentence there, and add my sentence right after it, to explain it.
Children are given too many choices. After all, Guidance involves the limitation...
...forced upon this world with no knowledge of what...
My idea for your conclusion is that it should be a final argument of your main point, which you said in paragraph one: Parents should take back control of their children's purchasing behaviors. Summarize the points made in the essay, and reiterate that thesis statement.
Great essay!
Wow! thanks, Tyler and Kevin so much for your suggestions. I find it hard to express myself in writing but, with much practice I will eventually get better at it.
Misha
Yes, lots of people find it difficult! They don't like committing their thoughts to print. :) I can understand the difficulty, because I can't dance. In dancing, you need to let go and surrender to some kind of rhythm, and I always feel foolish. In writing, you need to let go and surrender to rhythm, too. Writing is easier for me than dancing.. are you good at dancing?
It's all about rhythm and repertoire.
Yes, actually I attended a banquet over the weekend and it involved many forms of dancing.
I love to dance, once I get over my fear and a glass of wine then I seem to glide to the rhythm quite easily.
This is the final draft. I did not address who "they" are in the first sentence because, it's a quote exactly taken form Dan Cook essay "Lunchbox Hegemony"
Is it any better?
Ha ha, interestingly, many writers throughout history have been known to need a few drinks in order to loosen up enough to write! Just like dancing. For me, though, alcohol and writing don't mix.
This essay is very strong, I think. Are you supposed to use personal anecdotes? I wonder if talking about yourself and your son is going to make you lose points. Probably not, not if the professor is cool.
I still don't like the sentence, Children are given too many choices. It's not that I don't understand what you mean; it's just that this sentence does not convey what you mean very well. It is too short to be descriptive enough to introduce this idea of subtly guiding children by limiting their choices -- a complicated idea that needs careful explanation. You do explain it in the paragraph, but that intro sentence might affect the reader's receptivity to it, and make you seem very old fashioned or conservative, even if just for a moment.
But that is no big deal!
Yeah, I do understand how someone would perceive me as being old fashioned. I wil introduced that thought more tastefully. Your suggestion I must have overlooked, I will add it to my statment to cushion the blow.
Also, my professor encouraged us to put our personal anecdotes in the essay.
Thanks again,
Misha
Overall this is a really well constructed essay. I wonder, though, if you might make a bit stronger if you conclude by suggesting a more specific solution. You say its up to the parents to act like, well, parents, but then you talk about giving them legal rights to stand up to the corporations (couldn't they do this by just unplugging the television, or refusing to pay for cable?). So, what sort of rights did you have in mind, exactly? For that matter, what specific actions should parents take to limit their children's exposure to advertising?
