The Sell-Out
of Childhood: Should We Care?
by Amy
Aidman
Since September 11, many people in this
country are questioning the worth of what they do
with their lives, both personally and professionally.
My own profession involves research
and activism in the area of children's media issues.
And my belief is that electronic media have not only
an entertainment function but an enormous positive
potential to teach and inspire children. At the same
time, research on children and the media strongly
supports the view that our present system, anchored
as it is in commercialism, has failed our children
in a variety of ways.
The tragic events of September 11 led
me to question whether grappling with these sometimes
abstract issues is still a worthwhile pursuit.
Recently we have seen some extraordinary
efforts by our commercial media to assist us in this
difficult time - to keep us informed, and to help
adults and children contribute in any way they can.
Aside from all of the commercial-free time that was
offered up in the days following September 11, several
programs have been produced with the express purpose
of helping children deal with the tragedy.
Overall, though, children's media programming
remains pretty much business as usual. Watch TV with
a child. The frenetic animated characters are still
bashing each other around, and the sit-com personalities
continue to engage in the rude banter and unrelenting
sexual innuendo that is supposed to pass for humor.
During commercial breaks, children are exhorted to
want products. The idea of selling to kids is solidly
a part of the dominant ideology.
Prior to September 11, Hunter College
in Manhattan hosted leading scholars and activists
for two days as they brainstormed issues relating
to the commercialization of childhood. The first day
was fruitful, as we strengthened one another's resolve
and reinforced our shared beliefs that the way our
corporate system frames childhood is deeply problematic,
with the commercialization of childhood intensifying
in recent decades.
The following day at a summit organized
by a new coalition, Stop the Commercial Exploitation
of Children (www.commercialexploitation.com), over
20 speakers presented their views against the expansion
of corporate marketing that targets youngsters. The
event culminated in awards, including one to the country
of Sweden for its policy of not permitting advertising
on television to children under the age of 12. I was
deeply inspired by the Swedish government representative's
acceptance speech. She said that even though the Swedish
ban has received a lot of attention in other countries,
in Sweden it is hardly controversial, because it is
agreed that (as research has shown) children below
that age are not discriminating consumers. This, the
Swedish government concluded, was a sufficient reason
to prohibit targeting them as such.
When all hell broke loose on September
11, it somehow became unthinkable to bask in the promise
of our collective resolve to safeguard childhood from
rampant American commercialism. I, like many other
stranded travelers, had to attend to more pressing
and immediate business - getting home, trying to regain
personal equilibrium, and attempting to make some
kind of sense out of the senseless and the cataclysmic
in this brave new world of ours.
Along the way I have asked myself whether
or not my issues are even important any more. Is working
to protect children from creeping commercialization
simply a luxury? Perhaps it's all right that children
like to watch their movies and television programs,
and collect the toys that go with the mediated stories.
Maybe this is really just a simple pleasure of childhood,
and we should leave it alone and take comfort in the
fantasies the programs provide, the amusement and
escape they offer. Perhaps I am spinning my wheels
and should do something totally different with my
life - go hold drug- and alcohol-exposed babies, work
in day care, or teach a classroom full of elementary
school students every day. Work on the front lines
- do something really important.
But then…as time goes on it once again
becomes clear to me that the commercialization of
childhood really is a symptom of something out of
kilter in our society. And maybe, when we allow our
children to be on the receiving end of this culture,
we are actually guilty of helping to engender in them
a materialism that encourages greed and self-gratification.
In the light of September 11 we should realize now,
more than ever, that material wealth does not necessarily
correlate with self-fulfillment and happiness.
Some people think that it is dangerous,
misguided, or even unpatriotic to be critical of our
society at this point in time. But I believe that
we should be examining ourselves as we talk about
eradicating evil in others. And I believe that changing
our attitudes and practices with respect to framing
children as consumers is of vital importance. Incorporating
this attitude shift into a broader public health campaign
on behalf of children would have a beneficial long-term
impact on our national value system and on our culture.
There is so much work that needs to
be done for children in this country. Let's reroute
the resources expended on creating desires in children
for unnecessary products into nurturing their good
physical and emotional health and education, and into
helping them channel their innate desire to reach
out to others.
Amy Aidman is an independent researcher
and advocate on issues related to
children and the media, media literacy, and the social
impacts of communication technologies. She is a graduate
of the Institute of Communications Research at the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
