One day several years ago, my younger son and I were driving down Sandy Boulevard, when we saw a billboard that we took note of.
Now, normally, my “taking note of” a billboard with children in the car would consist of helping my kids “deconstruct” whatever it is the sign is trying to tell us – or, more likely, sell us. I’d ask my kids things like: Who is this ad aimed at? What methods does the ad use to convince you to buy the product? How does the ad make you feel? And other similar queries. (Click here for some great tips on helping your kids deconstruct media.)
On this day, however, the billboard we drove by had been spray painted with this message in large letters: “THINK FOR YOURSELF”
Wow. That day I walked a fine line between encouraging a discussion of what the graffiti “artist” was trying to convey and applauding vandalism.
Sharing this little anecdote is my segue into telling you about a wonderful new campaign spearheaded by the Nutrition Council of Oregon. The Marketing Junk Food to Kids: Oregon’s Parent Awareness Campaign is an effort to both raise awareness among parents about how many junk food advertisements their children are exposed to on a daily basis, and to provide parents with the information they need to help their children make good food choices.
As the campaign notes, “Marketing to kids has become a multi-billion dollar industry, and marketers are now targeting younger and younger kids – all the way down to infants – in an effort to build brand loyalty.” Their approaches are increasingly sophisticated and have moved far beyond television ads, to efforts like tie-ins between movies and fast food chains and TV show product placements to Web ads and, yes, billboards.
The campaign will run from mid-October to mid-January. Click here to learn more about it.
October 20th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized
Great post.
My first thought is that children shouldn’t be confronted with ads for junk food in the first place. Most of them will be on children’s TV programing. Others will be in food stores in the form of “feel good” packaging.
The “help” you can give your child is to get rid of the TV. In the store, introduce your child to nutrition labels and the false impression left by packaging.
The only choices a child should have regarding food should come from responsible parents.
That is a difficult conversation because you want to encourage individual thought but you certainly want to also teach refrain from encroaching on the rights of others (not to mention the obedience to authority).
There’s also the whole issue of the media targeting children. Yes, they have the freedom of speech but we also should be awarded the freedom to raise our children without influences we might consider unhealthy. It’s not just TV, either. Everywhere there are things targeted towards kids: the grocery store, the mall, billboards, etc. I think its unfair that I have to drive down the street and explain what a gentleman’s club is to my 6 year old who has proven to be an excellent reader! Where do we draw the line? I think it has to be done in our own homes where we can teach our children about the choices they have to make and help them make the correct choices by…thinking for themselves!