Kid Kustomers

Eric Schlosser talks about the booming marketing ads to children. Back then it were companies like Disney, McDonalds, Cereal, Candy and Toy manufactures. Today it ranges from telephone companies to restaurant chains. It started out in the 1980’s when parents didn’t pay as much attention to their children because work related issues so they spoiled their children to make up for the loss time. Logos are important in advertising because young children recognize pictures at a young age. A survey showed that children around age six could recognize Joe the camel even though it is not meant to sell to them. This is a way of catching the attention of children at a young age to potentially sell to them when they are of age to purchase that product. In 1998 some websites like McDonalds had surveys that required the students information that didn’t require parental permission. It was not until 2000 that the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act required websites to have parental permission. Study shows that children spend more time watching television than any other activity besides sleeping. Today’s majority child bedrooms have a television. This can be bad for the child in the long run because if they spend more time watching television it can affect their work. Even though at a young age schools don’t typically assign a heavy load of homework. If they get into the habit of watching television instead of doing homework it will affect them during their high school and college years. 

E. Schlosser, (2001) Kid Kustomers. in  S. Cohen (Ed) 50 Essays, A Portable Anthology 3rd Edition (pp. 353-358). Boston; Bedford