Read more
This gripping book considers the history, techniques, and goals of child-targeted consumer campaigns and examines children's changing perceptions of what commodities they "need" to be valued and value themselves.In this critique of America's consumption-based society, author Jennifer Hill chronicles the impact of consumer culture on children-from the evolution of childhood play to a child's self-perception as a consumer to the consequences of this generation's repeated media exposure to violence. Hill proposes that corporations, eager to tap into a multibillion-dollar market, use the power of advertising and the media to mold children's thoughts and behaviors.
The book features vignettes with teenagers explaining, in their own words, how advertising determines their needs, wants, and self-esteem. An in-depth analysis of this research reveals the influence of media on a young person's desire to conform, shows how broadcasted depictions of beauty distort the identities of children and teens, and uncovers corporate agendas for manipulating behavior in the younger generation. The work concludes with the position that corporations are shaping children to be efficient consumers but, in return, are harming their developing young minds and physical well-being.
List of contents
Series Foreword
by Sharna Olfman1 Culture Jamming and Other Ventures2 The Children's Culture Industry3 I Buy, Therefore I Am4 For and Against the Child as a Consumer5 Conformity, Creativity, and the Mechanisms of Persuasion6 Democracy versus Consumer Capitalism7 Deconstructing Consumerism: From the Voices of Young People8 Primed to ConsumeAppendix: Interview Questionnaire
Notes
Index
About the Author
About the Series Editor and Advisors
About the author
Jennifer Hill, PhD, is a freelance writer, activist, and cofounder of Who Minds the Child?, a media education nonprofit group.
