As the economy continues to tank it seems that no one is safe from being scrutinized by an ever-more pissed off public. FOXNews.com ran a story the other day talking about how parents are now condemning advertisers for their heavy advertisements that are directed at children. This is an interesting one to me, but here is the crux of the issue from the article:
In a season that inspires earnest letters about toys, one notable batch is being sent not by kids to Santa’s workshop but by parents to the executive suites of real-world toy makers.
The message: Please, in these days of economic angst, cut back on marketing your products directly to our children.
The letter-writing initiative was launched by the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which says roughly 1,400 of its members and supporters have contacted 24 leading toy companies and retailers to express concern about ads aimed at kids.
You have to admire the parents who would take out some time in their day to write these letters, but it makes me wonder what happened to old school parenting? What happened to a parent keeping an eye on what their children watch on television – including the commercials? And what happened to a parent telling their child, “No. You can only have one toy – not all five of them.”
I’m sure that the people who wrote these letters are fine parents and that they take good care of their children, but this just seems to me like a financially-strapped citizenry lashing out at anything around them. Why not go after those companies which put the impulse buy items at the front of the grocery store? I mean do you really need the candy bar or the deck of playing cards that are wedged up above the conveyor belt? Of course not, but they’re there for you to look at as you pay.
Better yet, why not sue all of the major retailers who have now rearranged their stores so that you cannot get to the items that you really came for unless you walk through the entire building? Look at Wal-Mart – they have all of their electronics and the toy department in the back of their stores now. What if you just want to come in and buy a DVD? You’d be subjected to advertisements on your entire way through the store and on your way out.
It goes on and on. Writing these letters was a valiant effort by these parents, but probably an activity that would have been more useful if they just sat down and educated their children on how to read and react to various advertisements.
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It sounds to me like they are wanting the companies to take responsibility for the proper upbringing of their children. Parents nowadays seem to continually shift responsibility away from themselves and look for someone else to blame when their children grow up and don’t contribute to society. Of course, we hear cases of this neglect every day on the news, about how little Caycee in Florida was an afterthought to her mom who was more concerned with going out and partying all night instead of being a parent. Parents are more concerned with other things (such as their favorite television shows and sports or keeping up with the latest trends in fashion) than they are with their own children.
Although it’s only one facet of the equation, the alcohol scene is playing a more integral and changing role than before. Previously, it was considered as a gateway to child abuse, and now it is taking on the light of child neglect. Kids these days getting pregnant and having kids earlier resort to what they know best to escape their problems and dismiss responsibility: alcohol. Most notably, the continuation of this type of “go-out-and-party-all-the-time” mentality from college is carrying over into their adult lives when it should have stopped years before.
And since I’m already off on tangents unrelated to the original post… I don’t agree with President-Elect Barack Obama on many things, but where I feel most strongly in agreement with him is his position regarding the family. Although he targeted his ideals towards the black community, it’s actually something that transcends all races. Parents need to step up to the plate and take care of those children.
“Anyone can be a father, but it takes a man to be dad.”
I agree on a bunch of your points. I have friends who graduated college and are still in that “go out and party” mode. And the issue of immature people having children is booming all over the country and all over the world.
If you’ve ever seen the movie Idiocracy, I think we’re heading in that direction!
http://www.jerseysmarts.com/2007/03/31/dvd-review-idiocracy/