Dear Andrew and Fellow LO Readers;
You wrote:
>So an Eskimo trains his children to hunt and put his spear into a dead
>polar bear and the modern American child turns on the television and
>absorbs commercials, so that the former becomes a skilled hunter while
>the other a skilled consumer. The American child, like the modern child
>of any developed nation is taught and trained to insatiable consumption
>of impulsive choice and infinite variety in a world that starves, lacks
>real democracy and shrinks and shrivels by the hour.
When my children were very small, I taught them a game I created in
reaction to my four years of working in advertising (a job that taught me
a lot, including a large amount of disgust for advertising and mass
consumption in general). The game is called "What are they selling?" and
it goes like this.
When you're watching television and a commercial comes on, turn the sound
off and ask your children if they can guess what the commercial is
selling. Some things are obvious, but some aren't. When they guess, then
ask them if they think the item being sold will work as shown in the
commercial. Then ask them if having that item will make the children
smarter, happier, more beautiful, etc. Will they get that pretty lady
lounging on the hood of the car if they buy the car? Will the Barbie doll
really twirl like the morphing image on the TV screen? Will the sneakers
really make them dunk like Michael Jordan?
Kids soon learn that what is shown on the TV isn't what they'll get if they
buy something. Buying what they see won't make them happier, either.
So far, my children haven't asked me for anything they've seen on a TV
commercial. I hope I've helped them to look at TV critically, to consider
what they themselves truly want or need, rather than let some Madison
Avenue crew decide for them. And when they want to buy something, they
understand how to weigh the choices. Yes, my kids do have toys, mostly
books, building toys, and stuffed animals, including a couple of the
inevitable Beanie Babies -- but they don't have tons. Not all of us
Americans are horribly rabid mass consumers :-).
Try playing "What are they selling?" with your own kids. They catch on
fast. A very funny moment came when my then 7-year old daughter wandered
past the TV, sighed without ever glancing at the TV, and intoned in quite
an adult voice, "They're selling pizza again. Don't they know people eat
other stuff? Like vegetables?" Oh, did I laugh!
Warm regards to all,
Martha
Martha Landerman
ISMD Requirements Team
United Parcel Service
2311 York Road
Timonium, MD 21093
(410)560-4194
rti1mlm@ismd.ups.com
--"Landerman, Martha (rti1mlm)" <rti1mlm@ismd.ups.com>
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