Superbowl Warm-Up: Pediatricians warn about ads

A few thoughts about your children and the media on the eve of the Superbowl:

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently published a policy statement that you should probably read.  It is entitled "Children, Adolescents and Advertising" and the issue here is the immense amount of advertising that is directed at children every day.  The article attempts to put some metrics on the amount of advertising that kids consume (40,000 TV ads per year), and the amount of money that is being put behind the effort to reach them (tobacco company ad expenditure in youth oriented mags in 2000—$217 million).

The study is relatively brief and readable.  If it piques your interest in the subject, then I highly recommend Juliet B. Schor's fine book: "Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture."

All lot of the facts and figures in the article are of a dimension that boggles the mind, and that does make a discussion of the article a bit difficult.  There were a few things that struck me.  (Excuse my bullets.)

•The advertising industry is the enemy, and it must be dealt with.

•I found the assertion that children under 8 "are cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising" to be a bit depressing and, anecdotally anyway, not entirely on base.  I watch TV with my kids pretty often, sometimes by design (I like SpongeBob) sometimes by accident (the computer and TV are in the same room), but I am talking to them pretty consistently about ads.  What is an ad, what they are trying to sell.  I have found that a four or five year old can at least distinguish between the ads and the shows and can show some awareness about media manipulation.  The AAP may have studies that show otherwise, but I think parents should talk to kids younger than 8 about media and advertising.

•They recommend that all ED ads be banned before 10PM, and I am all for it.  The assertion that these ads equate sexual activity with recreational sports sort of cracked me up, in a dry, policy statement kind of way.  I would also add that we need to get these freaking Flomax prostate ads booted, too (decreased semen?).

•My favorite part of the statement was the endorsement of media literacy programs as an effective antidote to advertising.  Media literacy is not something that has to be taught at school.  It is the easiest thing in the world for dads to teach their kids.  Make movies with your kids, dad.  As simple and fun as that.  Make movies with you kid.  Come up with a little story with the kids.  Bust out the camera.  Edit.  Show them how it all works, and you have helped them make an enormous leap.  These images are made by people.  Sometimes with intent, or an agenda.

In other words (say it with me dads and moms) children that manipulate media are less likely to be manipulated by it.

Clay Nichols, Health Correspondent:
Clay’s column, Dadventure, published twice monthly to Gather Essentials: Health, is a sure-fire guide to raising flawless, perfectly behaved, and always obedient children.  Yeah, right.
 
Clay is the co-author of Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts, an award-winning playwright, and the Chief Creative Officer at DadLabs.com, a fatherhood website.

You can find all of Clay’s Dadventure articles at http://gather.com/dadventure

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