Book Review – Born To Buy
(Instructor Name)
Introduction
In her latest book, "Born to Buy", sociologist Juliet B. Schor dissects the implications of a disturbing trend – that of children increasingly becoming the target of advertising in order to reduce the decision-making influence of parents over purchases for the family. The book is well-written by the Boston College professor, offering some startling conclusions into how and why advertisers have made kids the target of their efforts. The book does not restrict its insights to just food marketing, which has come under intense scrutiny in recent times, but extends her research to include other areas such as the marketing of violence, unhealthy body images and materialism, as well as addictive substances such as tobacco and alcohol. Drawing on a significant body of research, Schor outlines how in recent years, children have been subjected to consistent messages of materialism and commercialization, leading to a generation of kids with no concept of what is important and truly necessary in life. However, she does not stop at simply defining the problem and its extent, but goes on to make concrete suggestions for parents, teachers and advertisers to deal with the impact of this wanton exploitation.
Creating a comprehensive solution for marketing targeted at kids needs to begin from the home, with first the parents, and then the educators taking responsibility to wean away kids from this harmful invasion of their minds. To do so, a clear understanding of how exactly marketers are going about influencing kids is important, so that the correct methods can be chosen to counteract the effects. Through her book, Schor outlines the various approaches that advertisers have taken over time to influence kids and how these have manifested in the form of behavior among kids. Highlighting how serious the problem has become, Schor mentions how kids are aware of more than 200 brands even before they are ready to go to school, and how this behavior then manifests itself in materialism and personal image as they grow older. Without an understanding of these, parents will not be able to cope with the onslaught of what today seem to be innocuous messages which have a deep-seated impact in the long term.
"It's important to recognize the nature of the corporate message: Kids and products are aligned together in a really great, fun place, while parents, teachers, and other adults inhabit an oppressive, drab, and joyless world," Schor says (p.16). The message here is that the kids have only the products at their side, while the parents live in a world that is not welcoming to kids. With parents spending more time away from home working, this creates a mental universe in the mind of the child that only products, and not parents, can make them happy. In turn, this increases the clamor from kids to buy things, which results in increasing pressure on parents who respond with “guilt purchases” to keep the kids quiet, further reinforcing the message being propagated. As kids grow older, the demand for more keeps on increasing, with kids clearly communicating their demands for a particular product over others, influenced by the messaging prevalent around them. In online media, where the restrictions on advertising of products such as alcohol and tobacco is less stringent, “numerous tobacco and cigar brands are depicted and smoking is shown as a hip activity” (Calvert, 2008, p.213, para1). As parents, adults find it easier to satisfy these needs than take the time out to change the perception of kids, leading to increasing demands and ultimately parent-child conflicts when the demands get out of hand. However, by then it is too late and the separation is almost complete.
Increasing Liberty in Marketing Messages
Schor says that marketers have taken increasing license on how they market to kids, with stealth, guerilla and peer-to-peer selling tactics become more common (p.22). The messaging here outlines that in order to be part of a group, everyone has to have the same “stuff” and those that do not are considered “poor”. This in turn impacts the self-image of kids, who are more susceptible to such clues than adults. As adults, parents recognize the growing demands but feel helpless in the face of perceived peer pressure. In one of the surveys mentioned by Schor, 74 per cent of parents felt it was too bad that “you had to buy things to be seen as cool”, reflecting the tacit acceptance of these marketing tactics and their impact on the kinds of these children. . Surveys also found that more and more kids are shopping for the household, or at least independently for themselves. This gives kids a stronger say in the purchasing decisions and on a bigger portion of the household budget than before. As marketers recognized the influence kids have on decision making, the focus shifted towards getting the message across to kids than to the parents. This environment has made kids “grow up’ much faster, and makes them feel they have the right to make decisions on behalf of the parents, at times even going against the wishes of the latter.
Marketing’s Domination through Product Extension
Looking at the corporate landscape of children’s products, it is clear that a few companies today dominate these segments. In media, its largely Disney and Viacom, With toys its Mattel and Hasbro, while in video games its mostly Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo (p.28). By their sheer size, these companies are now able to create significant impact through the creation of what Schor defines as product extensions (p.26). Citing the example of Pokemon, the author shows how the program has now extended its reach into video games, board games, school and personal merchandise of all types, besides toys and books which are a ‘natural extension’. This trend reinforces the kids’ liking for a particular product. Barbie has played on this model for years, as have various Disney characters. By hooking kids onto one version and then extending their interest to other product categories, marketers are essentially ensuring that the kids are “bonded to brands” in the words of the author (p.25). This is seen even more today in the age of electronic media. Online games, which can be updated and modified and offer increasing opportunities for brand “intervention” are seeing a lot more brand presence in the form of logos, images, products, etc. Some have even gone to the extent of creating and promoting their own games (Calvert, 2008, p.207, para 6). This provides children – who are the main target – significant opportunity to see and recall the brand in a multitude of settings, thereby reinforcing the brand recall on their young minds.
Consumer involvement and Child Well-being
In the survey conducted by Schor between Doxley and Boston kids, the author found that “consumer involvement is a significant cause of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and psychosomatic disorders” (p.167). This is corroborated by the studies which use regression analysis to show that children are more likely to identify self-worth and personal image with the ownership of certain products. The lack of these creates a negative self-image and results in children having more disagreements with parents and siblings, and the greater likelihood of behavior not deemed acceptable – telling lies, avoiding responsibility and defying rules that have been clearly laid out. This in the later stages of growth is likely to result in anti-social behavior which is an alarming trend. Parents who noticed this tendency in kids are more likely to impose strict restrictions, resulting in even more rebellion and lead to a situation where relationships are adversely affected. In short, the impact of advertising today is creating a generation of selfish, narcissistic and materialistic people who cannot see beyond the artificial universe created for them by marketers.
Conclusion
Through the book, Schor has taken extensive efforts to highlight how brands have invaded the mindset of children, and how marketers are increasingly exploiting the vulnerability of kids to push products into their thinking. This is affecting the growth and long-term well-being of future generations of kids, and needs to be curtailed. Outlining the various solutions in her book, Schor establishes a clear case of marketing having gone too far in its attempts to influence the mindset of children, and clearly makes a case for increased curbs on marketing approaches acceptable. In addition, it is clear from the book that the first step starts with parents becoming more involved with their children’s lives and helping to wean them away from these disastrous influences by inculcating better values through a variety of activities and engagements. This old-fashioned parenting lesson is probably the first and most basic step that needs to be taken before all the others can have an effect.
References
Calvert, S (2008) “Children as Consumers: Advertising and Marketing”, Future of Children, Vol. 18, No. 1, 205-234.
Schor, J (2002) “Born to Buy”, Simon & Schuster, New York.
