Mini shopaholics ... Fighting consumer culture.
Even toddlers can be tech-savvy, brand-aware mini-consumers these days, mesmerised by the marketing world around them, from the moment you wheel them around the supermarket in a trolley - with pester power the nightmare of shopping parents everywhere. Can you bring up your children free of consumerism – or is it possible to reprogram them as they get older?
SHOWERED WITH GIFTS
Children in Australia lucky enough to be born to parents with more disposable incomes sometimes seem to be drowning in gifts. Well-meaning relatives, friends and frazzled parents shower them with items that may be the object of intense desire one day – cast aside the next.
A recent UNICEF UK study found that materialism is dominating family life, with children trapped in a ‘compulsive consumerism cycle’, as parents try to make up for long working hours. The research found that British children’s sense of inequality affects their wellbeing.
Experts in Australia say that this study has certain resonance here.
BOMBARDED BY ADVERTISING
Early childhood expert, Dr Leonie Arthur, at the University of Western Sydney, says that parents are bombarded by consumer culture, so how could children not be? “If you are good parents, you want to do your best by your child and especially when it comes to buying educational products, it’s hard to resist,” Dr Arthur says.
Professor Sharon Beder, author of This Little Kiddy Went to Market, says that children under the age of nine or even twelve, can’t see through the deception of advertising. “They think people in commercials are real people, saying what they really think, yet advertisers are able to reach children through product placement in games, phones and even schools. There’s increasing incidence of direct advertising in schools, with billboards, school reports, posters in corridors, as well as indirect advertising through sponsorship and collecting grocery coupons,” Professor Beder says.
CAN YOU AVOID CONSUMER CULTURE?
Mother, Tanya Leishman’s two primary school-aged children have rarely visited a department store. Her skilful use of ebay, recycling and an eye for a bargain at St Vincent de Paul mean that she does most of her shopping online and has largely been able to avoid the temptations of a trip to the shops. But are her children immune to consumerism?
“We’re not radical, we have a TV, we socialise with other families,” says Tanya, “and they do want things if we go to the shops, so we have to decide is it something we really want and can afford? Is it cheap and nasty, will it break in a couple of hours or can we pass it on to someone when we’ve finished using it?” Tanya says.
“Up to a certain age, I only gave them second-hand toys, they don’t know the difference at first but now they know their gift is second-hand and that it has a history. And I know their grandmother will give them things, so I can hold off on buying something, as I know that they will be spoilt by other means”, she says.
MAKE YOUR KIDS CRITICAL CONSUMERS
Dr Leonie Arthur says the key is to engage your children in conversation about consumer culture, even from a very young age, for example, pointing out how their favourite character is being used to promote their favourite food.
“Instead of just saying ‘No’, try to explain why you’re not buying a certain cereal. Make comparisons with other products, so you’re showing children how you need to read ingredients and that you’re making an informed choice” says Dr Arthur.
Professor Beder believes that it is limited what parents can do, other than telling their kids they can’t watch TV, making them different to other children. She says it should be up to the government to regulate marketing in schools – and she wants to see a ban on TV advertising aimed at children under twelve, like in Sweden. UNICEF UK is calling for the same in Britain.
Dr Leonie Arthur agrees that parents can’t protect their children from consumerism. “I know it’s tempting to say ‘We just won’t take a child shopping because it’s too hard or we won’t let them watch TV’. Children are very interested in their world and whether we like it or not, consumer culture is part of their world. You just have to help them to develop consumer literacy.”
