Consumer Kids by Agnes Nairn and Ed Mayo, published today (29 January),claims that almost 60 per cent of children have a television in theirroom when they start school and that children spend more time in frontof a screen than they do with their parents or in class. The book saysthat children are being targeted more by advertisers, and that themarket for child-orientated products has grown by 33 per cent in fiveyears.
It also claims that companies such as Mattel, Nike and Coca-Cola arerecruiting young children to market products to their peers.
It cites the case of a seven-year-old girl called Sarah, recruitedthrough a children's internet chatroom to work as a sales agent forMattel. Sarah has to take Mattel's Barbie Girl MP3 player with herwherever she goes and try to persuade her friends to buy one. She alsohas to take photos of her sales missions and e-mail them back toMattel.
The book criticises some parents for trying to create 'trophychildren'.
Author Agnes Nairn, who sits on a Government panel assessing the impactof the commercial world on children, said, 'Having a child has becomeanother way to display status. Parents spend enormous amounts on theirchild's nursery and they buy them more expensive gifts. Where years ago,parents might just have bought their children a game, they now buy themiPods or computers. You also have products such as educational DVDs forbabies, which play on parents' fears about their child'sdevelopment.'
Advertisers come under fire in the book for tricking children by usingtactics such as acting as their friend on online social networks,repackaging junk food as healthy food and making sure children do notrealise what is an advert and what isn't.
FURTHER INFORMATION
'Consumer Kids: How big business is grooming our children for profit' byEd Mayo and Agnes Nairn is published by Constable & Robinson on 29January at 8.99
Ms Nairn added, 'The more incitement there is to engage in thecommercial world, the more materialistic children are likely to be. It'sa question of balance. I think there needs to be a public debate aboutwhether we want children to be consumers or citizens.'
