Equipping Kids to Battle the Marketing Monstrosity

A new study says that today's kids are becoming uber web-savvy, but still have significant trouble distinguishing online ads. Last week an article in the Sacramento Bee expressed concerns about the role of corporations in helping shape curriculum for schools. And this week Susan Linn from the Center for a Commercial-free Childhood blogged about "corporate influences on what children learn in school," highlighting Sponsored Educational Materials (SEMS), which are materials created solely by corporations or corporate trade groups for use in schools.

In a culture that doesn't give kids a rest from being seduced and stimulated by advertising and other marketing strategies, it's important for children to possess super-savvy media skills, so that they can think critically and deeply about the messages and products being foisted on them at every turn, and can learn to make joyful, mindful, positive choices that affirm the lack of connection between happiness and stuff.

During last night's Raising a Humane Child Twitter Party, one parent mentioned that she and her kids play a game. When they watch commercials, they ask themselves questions about what the ad is trying to sell them. My husband and I (when we had a TV) used to play a similar game, only it was with the news - which stories are "news" and which ones are actually corporate video (or print) news releases?

If you want to help children protect and empower themselves from marketing and advertising, here are a few useful resources. You can use humane education activities like these:

Analyzing Advertising

Students learn to be ad-savvy by exploring the pervasiveness of ads in their lives and by analyzing what ads are trying to sell…and trying to hide.
Recommended for grades 5 and up.
Time: 45-60 minutes

Be a C.R.I.T.I.C.

Participants learn and use the C.R.I.T.I.C. technique to enable them to bring critical thinking skills to any information they receive, whether from industry, non-profits, government or media.
Recommended for grades 6 and up.
Time: 30-45 minutes

It Ads Up

This activity explores: How do ads influence us? What strategies do ad designers use to target different groups of people? How can we recognize those strategies and our own triggers?
Recommended for grades 8 and up
Time: 30-45 minutes

Not So Fair and Balanced: Analyzing Bias in the Media

This lesson plan helps high school students take a closer look at prejudices, the biases that media contain and perpetuate (such as in what they do and don't report on, or how particular genders or ethnicities are portrayed), and the ways we are influenced by those media biases. Recommended for grades 9 and up.
Time: One week of 45 minute class periods

Take Two

Unveil the manipulation inherent in marketing and corporate branding and awaken the creativity of your students by having them explore commercials aimed at them and then empowering them to create new commercials with a positive message.
Recommended for grades 8 and up.
Time: Two class periods, one week apart

(Check out our other culture and change humane ed activities.)

and consult books like these:

Marketing Madness
by Michael Jacobson and Laurie Ann Mazur
Westview Press, 1995.
Photos, examples, stories – a fantastic introduction to the effects of marketing on citizens.

Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood
by Susan Linn
The New Press, 2004.
A very important book on the effect of consumerism on children. (Check out a few teaching ideas for use with the book.)

Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child & the New Consumer Culture
by Juliet B. Schor
Scribner, 2005.
An eye-opening account of commercializing childhood & what concerned citizens can do.

If we teach children critical thinking and media literacy skills, then they will learn to reflect carefully and ask questions, rather than just blindly accepting what they hear and see.

~ Marsha

Image courtesy of Pesky Library via Creative Commons.

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