The Influence of Consumerism on Children

The essay “Kid Kustomers” by Eric Schlosser talks about how children got sucked into the idea of consumerism. It all started in the 1980’s with parents wasting more money on their kids. Now companies such as Kid2Kid, the Gepetoo Group, and Just Kids and other big corporations specialize in finding ways to get kids to buy their products. The author mentions the different ways children nag to get what they want, such as the pleading, persistent, forceful, demonstrative, sugar-coated, threatening and pity nag.

The television plays the biggest role in consumerism because of the advertisements that children are watching all day and the effect it has on them. The reason advertisements are the best tactic when it comes to consumerism is because children think that advertisements are part of the television show. Schlosser brings up several good points throughout the essay. This world is a materialistic world.

Most people nowadays are sucked into being the consumers and buying things that they do not even need because now it is all about who has the best clothes, shoes, car or house.

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It’s one big competition and hardly anyone is ever happy because there is always someone who has something that you do not have. Another reason people like to be consumers is because like to own the newest version of something. One example would be the millions people who buy the new iPhone or iPad when in reality it’s practically the same as it predecessor. If these marketing techniques work well on adults than that is the reason they are more effective on children.

Lastly Schlosser’s points are valid because I too have seen children being convinced to buy a product by people on the streets ,beg to their parents and have seen the effects advertisements have children. It happens all the time, whether people realize it or not. When a child sees a guy with a big sign advertising toys or food the kid is going to want to ask their parents if they can get the toy or that they are hungry.

It is sad that almost all children know who Ronald McDonald is and when they get hungry they are most likely to go to McDonalds because it is convenient. Children are more easily targeted now because now their friends influence them and if that one friend has something that they like, they will find a way to own it too. My little cousin Max who is ten years old feels he has to own the newest thing. It saddens me because he is in a competition with his friends and these companies are making money off him when he may not truly be interested in their product. Companies target children specifically because they get what they want the majority of the time. Companies depend on their children to beg to their parents so that they can buy their product. Whenever my cousin Max beg to his parents he eventually gets what he wants because he is persistent and persuasive and makes his parents feel guilty if he does not get what he wants. Sometimes while I am walking down the street or in the mall I see a kid with a iPhone wondering what they with something that sophisticated at such a young age.

It makes me wonder if kids have things such as the iPhone then what else do they have? These are the children who are sucked into consumerism and have to buy everything that is considered cool or new. To me one of the biggest reasons companies invest time and money on marketing advertisements directed towards children the most is because children have not learned the true importance of t the dollar bill. They no value behind it and do not think it of as much when their parents are the ones out their spending there money on them. Advertisements on television play the biggest role in consumerism. One effect that advertisements have on children is that the advertisement gets suck in their head. Children remember the words or specific tune that went along with the advertisement. A majority of children that I know are watching television most of the day. When I was a kid advertisements played a role in what I should buy or eat.

The majority of the things that I had heard of had come from advertisements. This is true because most people do not eat at a place they have never heard of because they do not want to take the risk. The same thing goes for things such as video games and toys for kids because advertisements make the product look good, which gives people a sense of hope that it will not be a waste of money if they buy it for full price. An example would be my cousin Rachel buys most of her toys because she sees them on the television. The advertisements reassure her that buying the toy will be worth it. She falls for the same toys each time because they are not much different from each other. She mostly gets dolls and princess castles, which all virtually look the same but only, differ in color. In the end advertisements effect our decision when we go out to buy the things we want. Companies have succeeded when it comes to convincing children to buy their product. It doesn’t matter where a person is at now.

They can be outside or in their house and they will still be surrounded by advertisements. The advertisements are on the television all day, billboards, people on the streets and one of the stronger forms of advertisement the Internet. Whenever a person watches a video on YouTube they are stopped by a short advertisement and overtime a majority of the world knows the advertisement and may be a little more tempted to go out and buy it. This world has become a world where humans feel need to buy everything even if they do not need it. As long as companies keep releasing new products then children will be consumers because children always buy the newest toy even if they just bought their last toy two weeks ago.