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What a Kid Wants, What a Kid Needs
Making More Time for Family
By Kelly Burgess
Advertisers are giving kids a bad rap. They are portrayed in the media as disrespectful, barely tolerant of their parents, too smart for any living adult, greedy and cunning. That portrayal, which used to be reserved mainly for teens, is now referring to younger and younger children.
Don't believe me? How about the commercial for a minivan featuring a group of adorable – and demanding – youngsters of about 6 to 8 years old, sternly directing the work of a team of car designers? No "please" or "thank you" in this blurb – rather what is implied is that the adults have to pander to the children to make them happy.
If they really wanted to make them happy, they'd take them home, drop them off with their parents and tell them to take a hike – a family hike, that is.
Contrary to the generational divisions being portrayed by the media, a recent poll indicated that 90 percent of children ages 9 to 14 said that family and friends were more important than anything money could buy. In addition, six out of 10 children said they would rather spend time having fun with their parents than going shopping.
The poll was commissioned by the Center for a New American Dream, a non-profit organization focused on helping Americans become more responsible consumers. Betsy Taylor is founder and president of the center, the author of What Kids Really Want That Money Can't Buy (Warner Books, March 2003) and, most importantly, the mother of two teens.
Taylor says that this depiction of younger and younger children and their parents as being on opposite sides of an unbridgeable gap is a growing trend in advertising and one that is not going unnoticed by concerned parents' groups and media watchdogs.