Children are an attractive demographic for marketers because of the amount of products they consumer per year. These products include electronics, movies, toys, snacks, music and clothing which total up to $ 40 billion annually. They also influence their parents in other pro9ducts and services acquisition family car, where to go for holidays which in total sum up to $ 700 billion annually. Children are known for the nagging, this is when children nag their parents to influence the product they purchase. This is seen in the documentary when a child creates a seen in a supermarket demanding for a particular product. 360 degree immersive marketing is the evolution of cross-channel marketing- dealing less with integration and more about consumer. For example, the adverts about having modest clothes, electronics and toys focus on how cool the consumer will be. The graph shows the trend on consumer spending from the 1980s to 2010. It shows that there has been an increase in consumption from 4.2 in 1980s billion to 40 billion in 2010.
Marketing techniques have a negative influence on children. Internet marketing for example exposes the children to various negative effects. Children looking for entertainment and social sites can be targets by criminal and can be exposed to pornographic and others such as drug abuse that people think they are cool. There is danger of exploitation, spam and viruses that may affect their computers. Production placement influences the type of products that the children purchase. Others such as food will affect their healthy living when they prefer eating junks instead of proper diet. New media technology such as social media and electronics makes children multitask which may result to poor socialization and poor performance in school. Advergames make children spend a lot of time playing games and may affect their socialization skills and academics. Classroom commercialization makes the children focus so much the commercials and they end up corrupting and distorting priorities and values.
Dr. Allen says that the commercialization is aimed at the children in order to prepare them for the purchasing times. They are teaching the children how to live a life that is some years beyond their age. This commercialization is making their psyche as they are prepared to purchase in future. They are installing a purchasing attitude to the children. For example, a child sees a precious car and he is given a chance to admire it, he asks for the marketer’s card and expects to by it in twenty years time. 13 y4ear old children are exposed to 17 year olds magazine making them to pre examine the purchases they will require at that age.
Commercialization on children can have negative impacts on their cognitive and social development. Children depend on their parents to guide them on what they see, hear and feel. Children who are exposed so much on these commercial and learning DVDs have been noticed to have a low learning as compared to those who learn through social interaction. Commercialization makes children spend most of their times indoors as they watch or play video games denying them time to play and interact with their peers. Consequently their social development skills are hindered.
The solution to child commercialization will depend on the government and the parents. First the government should regulate the amount of advertisement that target children. This will be through policy formulations that prevent child exploitation by the commercials. The parents should regulate the amount of time children spend on the internet, playing video games and other marketing techniques that target the children. They should also encourage their children to interact with other children so that they can help develop their cognitive and social development.
Works Cited
"Consuming Kids - The Commercialization of Childhood." YouTube. 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. Retrieved: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_95AoBkphQY
