Media Influence and Parental Responsibility in Child Consumerism

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Kids these days are constantly looking to get the next best thing, or act how the “popular” people would act. In the article “Commodifying Kids: The Forgotten Crisis,” Giroux talks about the affects the media market is having on children of today. The media is “brainwashing” kids into buying their products and catching them while they are young. The children of today are measuring their worth by the things they own or the way they act, which is largely due in part to the media market. While I do agree with Giroux on how the media market is to blame for the strong influence of children, I also think that the parents should share some of the blame for giving into their child’s desires and buying and encouraging them to get the top products.
The media influences so much of our society today. They control the trends in clothing and style, and influence they way we act. The people who they are affecting the most are children. Giroux comments “Children now inhabit a cultural landscape in which they can only recognize themselves in terms preferred by the market”(Giroux A136). Kids these days think they need to give in to the market to survive. One of the reasons for this mindset is because of the media corporations that are targeting young children. Companies are making strong marketing pushes toward children who are susceptible to persuasion. They are encouraging kids to buy the new IPhone or the new action figure. While it is not just products, children are also being influenced to act a certain way. TV and movie stars are teaching kids how to act based on characters they portray in movies and TV shows, which often times are not the right ways a child should act. Artists and other celebrities strongly affect the trends in clothing and ...

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...hild conforming to the ways of the media icons, then the kids will be less likely to act that way. The parents are a key part in loosening the grip the media market has on young children.
Not only are the media at fault for influencing children of today, the parents are also at fault for their encouragement of the media market. The market has a strong hold on children and is continually influencing them through many aspects of their lives. Parents need to encourage their children to not conform to whatever the media says. Kids do not need the newest items or hippest clothing in order to be successful. Parents need to slow down on spoiling their children and have them focus less on material things. Overall, we need to crack down on the gripping media market and encourage the children of today to be true to themselves and not rely so much on the media driven society.

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