Commercializing Children

1.The topic of Commercializing children is captivating but also speaks to a number of systems that are influencing our children's development (parents/family, government, laws, culture, etc.) According to this film, what are some of the values and messages we are sending to our children by marketing to them? (consider consumer identity and/or children & gender differences) What can parents and educators do to try to lessen some of the negative impacts on commercialization on children? Is there something that can be done on a broader level (nationally)?
According to the film, children are the one who determine what to purchase; therefore, many marketers go after them. Many brand-name companies take advantage of the current popular characters

Moreover, psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and behavioral scientists are involved to study to find out the children’s interests and the best way to allure children. They study through kids’ interaction, choices, opinions, and society stereotype. For example, girls should have more interest in dolls, colorful colors, girly toys whereas boy should be interest in cars, video games, dim colors, and cool and aggressive stuff. It is not about the quality that children care about, but it is the brand name that they care about such as where they got their bags, shoes, clothes from is matter to them. Their friends have that products, hence they have to have those too; it is about “me” statement such as “what’s about me?” statement. In the past, the target age for advertisements is from eight to twelve; then later on change from six to twelve, and now from four to twelve. At such a young age, a child already gets influence by many advertisements; from the time they get up in the morning, go to school to the dinner time, time to go to bed. And that’s the goal of the commercial companies. Additionally, adults

For example, the fact that psychologists, sociologist, and behavior scientists get involved and study about children’s determination in purchasing items. I thought their jobs should learn about children and lead children into a positive way of making decisions. But money seems to the most priority to some people. Some tests are even set up for children to play and at the same time, many eyes are observing them and see who play this toys and how they interact with the toys. These observations are recorded for commercial companies to study and release new toys that would attract more kids. I think it is scary to think that companies are taking advantage of children to make money. Because children are innocent, they do not know that they are being used. And parents neglect that fact because they want their kids to be happy. And we are living in a diverse society where girl and boy can play the same toys. It does not necessary have to be the way that boy should play car and girl should play dolls. They have the rights to choose what type of toys they are playing regardless of the