Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture

Although at times the book was a bit rough to plod through (while I find statistical analysis to be pretty interesting, it's still hard to read about it in a book), it was a very interesting and enlightening expose on all of the marketing that occurs that targets children.

I found it somewhat frightening how pervasive marketing towards children is, I had heard of soda contracts in schools, but had no idea that marketing agencies pay lots of schools to show a commercial TV channel as a supplement or replacement to morning announcements. (Fortunately, ChannelOne is and has been banned in NY, so I got ad-free, student produced announcements over the intercom.) The fact that this marketing intrudes in parts of children's lives that they show more can't avoid really shows how eager Big Business is to ensnare children into the consumerist culture at a young age. And proves that we can't rely on the age old argument that the parents are to blame.

My favorite part of the book are Ms. Schor's suggestions for improvement. Government regulations (or a ban) on marketing that targets children, the possible taxation of advertisements are great ideas, although I'm sure that, with Big Business putting so much money in all of our nation's leader's wallets, these will never come to fruition.

But until then, people can turn off their TVs, read a book, or go outside and play. There are a plethora of activities that can get children away from the mind-numbing influence of advertisements while still providing them with entertainment. show less

A solid, well-written book exploring consumerist culture and its impact on our children, who are advertised to nearly everywhere they go, and spend very little of their life advertising free.

Un libro fondamentale per comprendere il ruolo della pubblicità e del marketing all'interno della comunicazione mediatizzata e diretta a bambini, preadolescenti e adolescenti. Da leggere!