Buy Buy Baby: How Consumer Culture Manipulates Parents and Harms Young Minds by Susan Gregory Thomas

The title of this book is a dead give away to its purpose and the jacket copy introduces the topic succintly. “An investigative journalist examines how marketers exploit infants and toddlers and the broad, often shocking impact of that exploitation on our society.”

I was already familiar with the AAP recommendation that children under two years of age not watch any television. According to this book, because of the AAP recommendation, other research on the drawbacks or benefits of media exposure for children under two is not being funded, even though companies know that toddlers are watching increasing amounts of television. The author summarizes existing studies on infants, toddlers and television so that skeptical parents can draw their own conclusions from the available research instead of buying into the marketing claims.

The book reports specifically on brands like Baby Einstein, Leapfrog, PBSKids, Scholastic, and Disney, and what they are each doing (as producers of books, DVDs, toys, games, clothes, shoes, dinnerware, bedding, diaper bags, and accessories) to target infants, toddlers and preschool children. Find out how characters are licensed for other products. Read how and why companies work together to put a familiar character on a fast food bag, a toothbrush or a box of fruit snacks. Some studies have demonstrated that for infants and toddlers, repeated exposure to licensed characters in advertisements, posters and educational videos successfully teaches the children to recognize the characters and choose the endorsed product, which is the marketers goal.

Since marketing departments target specific demographics as their audience and many parents of young children are part of Generation X, the book also examines the shopping characteristics of current parents. According to this reporter’s findings, the educational or learning claims on the packages of many products marketed to infants and toddlers are largely unsupported by research results Parents are believing and buying anyway.

If this topic interests you, check out these other resources:

• Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (website)
• Consuming kids: the commercialization of childhood (DVD)
• Consuming kids: the hostile takeover of childhood by Susan Linn
• Con$umed : how markets corrupt children, infantilize adults, and swallow citizens whole by Benjamin Barber
• Packaging girlhood : rescuing our daughters from marketers’ schemes by Sharon Lamb
• I want it now : navigating childhood in a materialistic word by Donna Bee-Gates
• Kidnapped: how irresponsible marketers are stealing the minds of your children by Dan S. Acuff

 Do you have any tips to share with other parents who are trying to minimize children’s exposure to advertising? Share your thoughts below!