Introduction

Children are the new darlings of Madison Avenue. They may be too young to vote, but they are squarely in the crosshairs of corporate advertisers from the moment they sit down to a bowl of Kellogg's Star Wars: Episode III cereal in the morning until they go to bed in their Hello Kitty or Spiderman pajamas. In between, beverage and snack food companies vie for position in the hallways of their schools, pop stars and celebrities beckon them in designer-label clothes, and TV shows and movies flash subliminal product placements at them relentlessly.

There has long been advertising aimed at children, but the scale and sophistication of today's marketing campaigns go far beyond traditional television ads, commercializing childhood to an unprecedented degree. Techniques in the modern repertoire include invasive "viral marketing" campaigns that surreptitiously turn children's friendships into word-of-mouth networks for spreading enthusiasm about new products; covert sociological research into children's habits and preferences; and gimmicks such as hybridized "advergames" that disguise brand-building and consumer product research as slick entertainment.

In isolation, some of the techniques may not appear to be particularly worrisome. But their cumulative effect is a never-ending come-on, in which there are innumerable images and messages not appropriate for children, particularly young ones. The dollar-figure scale of it helps put the trend in perspective: In 1983, when television was the biggest conduit for advertising, marketers spent $100 million on TV ads for children. Today, by one estimate, they spend 150 times that amount -- $15 billion, annually -- on TV, Internet, print, and other, more stealthy marketing campaigns, all targeting children. Young people now see about 40,000 ads per year on television alone, in addition to all the rest.3 Little wonder they can name 300 to 400 corporate brands by the time they are 10 years old.4

But there is a growing body of evidence that there are unwelcome and unhealthy consequences for the children and families on the receiving end of all that marketing and consumerism. Some ads use images of material happiness, sexuality, or violence to stir adolescent insecurities. Others use colorful cartoon characters or splashy product packaging to create a sense of wonder for young children. As tens of thousands of those flickering images melt together into a constant, nagging whisper in children's ears, specific harmful effects can run the gamut from increased parent-child conflicts to strained family budgets, distorted value systems, and both physical and emotional health problems. Boston College sociologist and economic expert Juliet Schor has identified strong correlations between children's immersion in the consumer culture, the conflicts they have with their parents, and their feelings of depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Meanwhile, ads for alcohol, tobacco, and junk food have, not surprisingly, been associated with alcohol and tobacco use, and obesity. Equally troubling are the connections between violent media marketed to children and displays of aggressive behavior. And a leading expert on violence, culture, and media, Wheelock College education professor Diane Levin, raises similar red flags about sexual imagery in marketing campaigns and products geared for children who are not cognitively or emotionally ready for it. Not only are such sexual messages linked to increases in eating disorders among girls, but, Levin says, as "children struggle to make sense of mature sexual content, they are robbed of valuable time for age-appropriate developmental tasks, and they may begin to engage in precocious sexual behavior."