Oh how I long for the days when kids would watch TV and their brains would turn to mush. The good ol’ days when kids would see a commercial and cry their eyes out until their parents bought them that Nerf gun. What has happened to our society that we can’t even brainwash our children with a simple TV spot anymore?
While my tongue is firmly planted in cheek, research has shown that kids aren’t affected as greatly by advertising as we thought. According to many market researchers, children are among the most “savvy and sharp consumers” out there. This makes sense. Kids know what they want.
So why all of a sudden does this “child targeted advertising” not work anymore?
Perhaps it never worked in the first place.
All along people have thought of children as these impressionable young sponges. Anything they see, they must have. Anything they hear, they are going to repeat. Is it possible that they are not the mindless little drones that we thought they were?
In my opinion, it is time to stop acting as if kids can be easily corrupted by advertising and accept the fact that if advertisers really want to brainwash kids, they’re gonna have to step up their game.
