Weapons of Mass Consumption and our Grandkids
Being conscientious parents, my son and his wife limit my 20 month old granddaughter's access to the TV, but here she was, at my house. She didn't want to nap, and her exhausted grandma needed the respite even if the child didn't, so I figured a little bit of Sesame Street would calm her down. "What could be more innocuous than Sesame Street?", I told myself. Both of us curled up in a blanket and squealed with delight as familiar old friends like Bert and Ernie and Grover and Snuffy taught us letters and numbers...a real walk down memory lane for me who hadn't watched this program in 20 years. For a few moments, I was lost in reverie of me as a young mom, watching with my little ones until I almost fell off the couch in shock ... Ronald McDonald?! On Sesame Street? Since when? It seems that no longer is the show followed by a simple statement that Sesame Street is brought to us by donations from several endowments and subscribers to public television. Now the show is followed by a natural baby food company commercial (at least the mush is organic) and worse...the grandfather of all trans fat havens....Mickey D!
I consoled my conscience by telling myself that after all, she is only a baby, and it probably went right over her head.
A few days later we were in the library together and the magnitude of the problem really revealed itself to me. Sara kept pointing at the board books on one of the displays and yelling "Yogurt, Yogurt". At first I was confused because there were no books about food on the shelf, then I realized that the books were about Dora the Explorer. I remembered that Dora is the cartoon character who is on every one of her baby yogurt containers. Uh Oh...so much for going right over her head.
Of course we cannot shelter our grandchildren from the consumerism inherent in being targeted by advertising. To do so would be to put them in a bubble. We can, however, help them to learn how to resist blindly accepting the presumed truth in advertising. For example, I don't see anything wrong with pointing out even to a twenty month old that Ronald is fun to look at, but he doesn't eat very healthy food or that having an attitude that "I want it all, and I want it now" like some advertisements promote, is not always the best way to stay healthy or to get along with other people. Let's teach our grandchildren the art of "resisting advertising messages" and let's start teaching them while they are young...the advertisers do!
Don't forget to enter Nona's Contest! Every comment up to 3 per entrant entitles you to an entry in the drawing on May 31st for the award winning book Grand Loving Making Memories with Your Grandchildren, by Sue Johnson & Julie Carlson.
For more on Enlightened Grandparenting visit Nona Nita's Nook
and click My Path Productions for ideas that support conscious living .
I consoled my conscience by telling myself that after all, she is only a baby, and it probably went right over her head.
A few days later we were in the library together and the magnitude of the problem really revealed itself to me. Sara kept pointing at the board books on one of the displays and yelling "Yogurt, Yogurt". At first I was confused because there were no books about food on the shelf, then I realized that the books were about Dora the Explorer. I remembered that Dora is the cartoon character who is on every one of her baby yogurt containers. Uh Oh...so much for going right over her head.
Of course we cannot shelter our grandchildren from the consumerism inherent in being targeted by advertising. To do so would be to put them in a bubble. We can, however, help them to learn how to resist blindly accepting the presumed truth in advertising. For example, I don't see anything wrong with pointing out even to a twenty month old that Ronald is fun to look at, but he doesn't eat very healthy food or that having an attitude that "I want it all, and I want it now" like some advertisements promote, is not always the best way to stay healthy or to get along with other people. Let's teach our grandchildren the art of "resisting advertising messages" and let's start teaching them while they are young...the advertisers do!
Don't forget to enter Nona's Contest! Every comment up to 3 per entrant entitles you to an entry in the drawing on May 31st for the award winning book Grand Loving Making Memories with Your Grandchildren, by Sue Johnson & Julie Carlson.
For more on Enlightened Grandparenting visit Nona Nita's Nook
and click My Path Productions for ideas that support conscious living .
Agreed, it's never too late/ to inoculate.
Heh. And it'd be better if the message were reinforced by other members of the family too. A lone voice crying in the wildness tends to go unheeded...
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True, but if one howls loud enough... ;>
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Anytime I find a video or dvd suitable for small children that I like such as Spot, The Wiggles, Kipper, Brainy Baby, Baby Einstein or Maisy-I buy it. Yes I am a dinosaur that still has a VCR. At least the videos don't have ads interspersed throughout the story. We have come to expect better from public television, but it seems they are moving more toward commercial TV. Our grandchildren are the victims of merchandising at an earlier age than ever before.
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The bright side is that awareness is the first step to doing something about it and it does my spirit good to see that there are other savvy grandparents like you out there countering the offensive advertising.
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