Consuming Kids (Hardcover)

by Susan E Linn (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Like Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, Linn is able to write about a subject people care about and avoid the shrillness that can make such books a chore to read. A psychologist and children's advocate, Linn is openly critical of the corporate bottom line and focuses on what will benefit children and families. Her exhaustively researched picture is of a $15 billion industry in near-total denial about the effects it has. Executives traffic in transparently self-serving rhetoric, extolling the educational value of such seemingly bland fare as Teletubbies or claiming to be developing toddlers' incipient need for control. The concept of "prenatal marketing" need not be exhaustively described to send a shiver down the spine of any mother-to-be. Linn points out that successful marketing is often in direct opposition to what's good for society. Sex, violence and sugar-packed snacks obviously hold great appeal for youngsters, and there exists, he says, no countervailing social force to effectively check their influence. Linn demonstrates how marketers research methods to make children more effective naggers-thus undermining parental authority-and TV programming executives spike the chilling metric known as "jolts per minute." Linn works hard not only to put together a truly devastating case against the marketers, but also to couch it in the most reasonable terms possible; indeed, the entire book is really an appeal to common sense: that we as a society take better care of our children. Savvy enough to avoid sounding "like someone's old maiden aunt," Linn presents a socially conscious account that deserves wide exposure.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Marketing executives have targeted children as the ultimate consumers because they are easily manipulated and able to extract dollars from their parents to satisfy manufactured desires, often against their parents' better judgment. Linn, psychologist and parent, examines how corporate America exploits children and deliberately infects them with obsessive American consumerism. Linn cites research and behind-the-scenes information on marketing strategies that include emphasis on brand names, extreme individualism, and consumerism and the increasing use of child psychologists to plumb knowledge about the vulnerabilities of children, all with a cynical disregard for their welfare. The campaigns--tie-ins between children's characters and products and fast-food meals--blur the lines between programming, literature, and commercial marketing. Linn critiques parents, herself included, for their inability to protect children from aggressive "guerilla" marketing and offers suggestions on how parents can resist their children's whining for the products they've been encouraged to want and lists resources parents can use to take public action against advertisers. An eye-opening look at marketing to children. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: New Press (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565847830
• ISBN-13: 978-1565847835
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #265,049 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The branding of children, September 14, 2004

By	Ashley Lemmon - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Parents, grandparents, teachers, caretakers, and anyone who cares about children and the future of our nation, must read Susan Linn's, Consuming Kids, and take action. At it's core, Consuming Kids, examines the negative affects that marketing and advertising have on children. The disturbing fact is that marketing to children is a booming industry that is essentially profiting from programming children. The question Linn presents to the reader is: who is responsible for shaping our children? Is it McDonald's? Is it the Worldwide Wrestling Federation? Is it Pepsi? Is it Barbie? Linn argues and I agree with her, that today's generation of children are not basing their identity or values around those of their parents or friends, but are rather being shaped by brands and large corporations.

I myself am a student of media and marketing, having chosen a major in Communication Arts. In addition to this, I have spent my past six summers as a full-time nanny, and one day hope to be a mother myself. Why is this so important? All of these credentials provided me with the ability to read Linn's book from many different perspectives, however, in the end I received the same message no matter through what lens I was looking; marketing to children needs to stop, not only for children's benefit, but also for the benefit and well-being of society.
Linn brings a new perspective, as a mother and an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Linn also serves as Associate Director of the Media Center at Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston. Her background allows her to speak from a mother's perspective, while also utilizing her experience in psychology when examining some of the tactics in campaigning and marketing to children. She successfully finds a balance between the concern of a mother and a deliverer of facts, making her a reliable and credible source. Through multiple personal examples, in addition to statistics and data, Linn reveals the harms of marketing to children.
Linn reflects on an era when children spent their time playing outside and creating fantastic imaginary worlds; however, as Linn points out, today a child cannot even read a popular novel, such as Harry Potter and bring his/her own imagination to it. Harry Potter has been constructed for them, no need to imagine what Hogwart's School looks like because they can see Harry Potter's entire world by watching the movie. Essentially Linn shows the reader that children are becoming programmed by the media and advertising. No longer do they stretch their minds and think for themselves, but rather they have become desensitized and need to be constantly entertained by way of television, video games, and computer games. When I nanny in the summers, the phrase "I'm bored" is uttered by every child in the family usually multiple times a day. My suggestions to play outside, color, or play a board game, are met by whines and responses of "I don't want to". Instead they prefer for me to take them to the video store to rent a movie or to simply act as couch potatoes, staring blankly at the television.

Linn's point is that corporations, commercial media, and advertisers are concerned with one thing and that is making a profit. The notion of instilling the correct values and lessons in children, in addition to reinforcing creativity and individuality, seems to have fallen to the waste side and has been replaced by images of sex and violence. Marketers strive to grab children's attention; sex and violence are only two examples of tactics that have proven to be successful. Not only is it problematic for a six year old to be playing with "lingerie Barbie", but also on a larger scale, where is the responsibility on the part of the marketers? Would they want their child playing with a scantly clothed doll? What lessons does that doll teach a child?

These questions of social and ethical responsibility are the heart and core of Linn's book. Linn recognizes that parents can only do so much and say "no" so many times before it begins to take a serious toll on their child/parent relationship. Therefore, she reassures parents that they are not the ones to blame, nor should they be blamed for problems surrounding children's exposure to negative and harmful images, but rather, people need to ban together and take action against the source of the problem which is the media themselves. Keeping consistent in tone and purpose, Linn offers a list of simple suggestions for parents to do their part in stopping the "marketing maelstrom". The future looks bleak if the media's messages to children revolve around sex, violence, and materialism. We must stop the advertising beast before it causes permanent damage and jeopardizes the future of society.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good primer on how marketers manipulate children, May 20, 2004

By	Charles John Gervasi (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a good short course in the shameless tactics companies use to market products to children of all ages. Linn goes "undercover" to a marketing convention and gives the reader an idea of the mindset of the typical marketing person's attitudes. Her undercover reporting along with references to industry journals show the marketing industry's complete lack of regard for how their messages affect children. The book is intentionally short on advice to parents; it's not intended as a manual for how to deal with marketing.

Linn repeatedly says how marketing to children results in parents constantly having to say "no" to things. I wonder if this is as big of a problem as the author suggests. We all have to say no constantly to choices that are pleasing but bad for us. Adults know that they must produce a good or service to get money to buy other people's goods/services. This fact of life ought to be explained to children at a very young age. Responsible adults allocate certain amounts of money to each of their needs and wants. Why not give kids an allowance of some sort. If as children they spend it on something they really don't want, it is better that they learned the lesson then than grow up to be adults thinking their existence is defined by much pricier toys. With this lesson children might learn to save their money and only spend on things they really like. They might learn that putting their money toward something they believe in is more pleasing spending it on consumer products. When I have children, I will revisit this review to see if I was hopelessly naive and optimistic about children's ability to make the right decisions on their own.

I don't have any thoughts as to how parents should deal with marketing the glorifies violence (including media relations from the US military) (...). These are age-old problems that are intensified by media technology. I think, however, that the same media technology can provide information challenging harmful marketing. I am very circumspect about Linn's suggestion of keeping computers out of kids bedrooms, especially after they have developed critical thinking skills. At some age, hopefully not to young, kids are going to be exposed to all kinds of crap and in the end it will be up to them to make the right decisions. Again, check back in 20 years to see if my take is simplistic.

In any case, Consuming Kids is worthwhile to read as a warning about mainstream companies' willingness to exploit children to sell their products.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wake up call for parents, November 11, 2004

By	Allison D "Allison D" (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

The central premise of this book is that parents are being told that it is their responsibility--not that of the government or private industry--to shield children from the harmful effects of marketing while at the same time, advertisers are using methods specifically intended to undermine parents' efforts. Young children are extremely vulnerable to advertising, and marketers exploit that vulnerability without any concern about the well-being of the children or the population at large. It is not realistic to expect parents to have control over these influences when they come from all directions and with such force.

What is most disturbing about this well-researched study is how unabashedly exploitative the advertising industry has become toward children. They are proud of "cradle to grave" marketing that can begin when children are toddlers or infants. The "nag factor" is considered a perfectly reasonable way to get children to convince their parents to buy them things. Harmful products such as obesity-inducing fast foods, nicotine, and alcohol are pushed the hardest at children, and statistics show that even the most well-intentioned and involved parents can fail teach their children to make wise choices.

The only reason I do not give this book 5 stars is that the author focuses primarily on child-directed consumerism. As a parent, I have experienced the secondary effects of marketing when I've purchased over-hyped products for my son that he hasn't even asked for. Such is the power of advertising that parents become trained to anticipate what they will be nagged for.

The suggestions offered to parents in this book range from actions we can take at home to political issues we can champion to help protect our children. There is no step-by-step guide to making our kids marketing-proof. The point of the book is that parents currently do not have the power to protect their children, and should not be viewed as solely responsible for their well-being. Things are getting worse and only pressure from consumers and from our political representatives can level the playing field.