Play this with your kids!

AD DETECTIVE

Fun and games?

A lot of children's advertisements make eating candy into a game. This distorts children's ability to eat candy responsibly by making it into a matter of winning or losing.

Questions to ask children about advertising

Q - Do commercials use tricks?

Commercials exaggerate the capabilities of toys to make them appear more enticing.

Q - Can toys really talk (move or sing)?

If they move or talk on television…don’t be so sure. This may only be a way of dramatizing the imaginative possibilities of the product.

Q - How do they make food look so good?

Food stylists prepare the food and often don’t even use the original product.

Q - How do they make games look so easy?

Through skillful editing they make it so the user makes no mistakes.

Q - What does “Parts sold separately” mean”

Children who cannot read an ad may be disappointed when they do not receive the accessories displayed in the ad.

Q - Are celebrity sneakers better?

Buying sneakers will not make you play like the person who endorses them.

Silverblatt, Art. Media Literacy: Keys to Interpreting Media Messages. 2nd Edition. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001.

Station Identification

Quote of the Day

"I firmly believe that more media literacy instruction can be very useful in our efforts to promote tolerance and combat violence. With the increased exposure of young people to an incredibly broad array of messages from an equally broad array of media messengers, it's all the more important that we teach our young people how to make sense of what they're seeing, hearing, and feeling. We need to teach them how to separate fact from fiction and fantasy. Only if we provide appropriate guidance can we expect our young people to understand that not everything on the screen has a place on the street corner or in the classroom."

-US Attorney General Janet Reno
interview with Cable In The Classroom's Al Race, 1999

CARU Reviews Ad for 'Over the Hedge' Videogame

We all know that small children have a hard time distinguishing between reality and fantasy. But what about the difference between real news and fake news? The makers of the 'Over the Hedge' videogame may have crossed the line by simulating a newscast to promote the new game. Read the document below for details from the Childrens Advertising Review Unit (CARU).

Hakuna Matata and Implicit Meaning

I'm sure most of us have seen The Lion King. In fact, I'd guess that almost all of us can sing the catchy and fun song that Timon, Pumba, and Simba bust out mid-movie, "Hakuna Matata." What exactly does Hakuna Matata mean anyways? Do you remember from the movie? I'm sure you do, let's take a look at the lyrics.

Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase.
Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze.
It means no worries for the rest of your days.
It's our problem-free philosophy.
Hakuna Matata!

Wait a minute. What kind of message are kids getting from this movie? I thought The Lion King was wholesome and uplifting, but according to this scene, it would appear as though the movie's "theme" is one of lack of responsibility or how running away from your responsibilities brings you happiness and friends. Hmmm....interesting. Let's think this through.

This is a great example and has the potential to lead to a constructive conversation with young people. Sure, taken out of context this scene appears to be teaching our children all the wrong things about life. But, when viewed as a whole with the rest of the movie, we get a better understanding of the Hakuna Matata way of life and how it falls short.

Using this film as a visual, take the opportunity to talk to your children about the implicit meanings found in the media around them. Ask them what this scene from The Lion King is saying and if they agree with the message. What's the message of the movie? Do they agree with it?

When discussing other media examples with your children, ask them what the movie, the commercial, the scene, the story, etc. is trying to say or what it's implying.

Helping our children recognize the meanings (both explicit and implicit) behind the media they consume is an important step to empowering them and helping them become media literate.

"Heroes"

I found this ad in National Geographic Kids, a magazine my 8-year-old nephew reads. Despite the fact that by the age of eight, most children are able to distinguish between fantastical and real-life violence, I feel this ad goes overboard by glorifying violence. These two demonic creatures stand head to head, ready to attack one another. Superimposed over the battle scene is the word "Heroes." In the increasingly violent world we live in, we need to provide our children with responsible role models--not rabid robot killers.

As a side note, the rating for this particular game ranges from "Everyone" to "Teen." Its hard to justify its placement in a magazine that targets 8-year-olds.

Kids on Sugar

It's an age old trick. Kids love games. This version of "Where's Waldo" crosses the line by making it seem like these candy snacks are an everyday part of school life. No wonder all these children in the ad are going bonkers; they are loaded up with sugar!

Fruity Fibbing

A lot of kids seeing this ad might think these candies are made of fruit. After all, the fruit pictured here seem to think Mr. Twistable is pretty great. Let's take a look at the ingredients though. There are four types of sugar listed before any fruit is even mentioned. It would be better if there were bags of sugar swooning instead.

spiderman

Superhero paraphernalia and children's products have always lived hand in hand, well before the days of plastic toys in children's meals. Which makes sense from a marketers point of view--children gravitate toward that which they recognize and idolize. And the purpose of this post isn't to suggest that these tie-ins are inherently bad. It's just important to realize the effect this may have on your children. You may see a superhero toothbrush. And chances are this is the same harmless message your children are taking from this ad. But not necessarily.

Will your child think that if they have this toothbrush they will take on some of the attributes of Spiderman? Will they be disappointed when they brush their teeth and can't scale a building? Sure, this is an extreme example, but I doubt things like this have never happened.

And what are the ethics of using a cartoon to sell something? It may not seem a problem for something that encourages children to brush their teeth. But what about when this is applied to something like fast food? Something with foreseeable potential damage? When is it okay to use these hero types to sell to children and when is it not?

Any ideas?

Tips for helping children with the media

Moderation

• Make sure the television is not constantly on
• Watch by the show, not by the hour
• Set limits (how much television a child can watch per day)
  

Participation

• Sit down and watch/read with your children
• Encourages dialogue between parent and child

Monitoring

• Know what your children are watching/reading
• Have internet connected computers in a public place of the house
  

What ideas do you have, or what have you done to facilitate better involvement between you and your children and the media they consume?

How Beauty Is Made: a discussion on body image

How Beauty Is Made - Dove Campaign - www.campaignforrealbeauty.com

Issues with body image seem to be starting at a progressively younger age. Even children as young as 6 are not exempt from these kinds of perception problems. Advertising, along with the incidence of young girls reading fashion magazines, is projected to be a major contributor to the body image issues of pre-adolescents. Even pre-adolescents (including those younger than 12) report that they diet to control their weight (Women's Health Network). Sure, the media does plenty to perpetuate this problem, but certain companies are speaking up and out against the uber-thin and surgically enhanced image of the so-called "typical female."

Leo Burnett in Chicago has created a great campaign touting real beauty. This specific television ad is a great example of how distorted our perception of perfection is. The more your children realize that even the models they are dying to look like are digitally altered, the more they will be accepting of their own . Kudos to Dove for taking a stand and doing some damage control.

You can check out the whole Dove campaign HERE

Other resources that will aid in talking to your child about true body image:

About Face
Adios Barbie
Body Image For Kids

the T.V. and American children

• The average child watches 1,680 minutes of television per week (28 hours)

• 50% of children between the ages of 6 to 17 have a tv in their room
• 70% of daycare centers use television during a typical day
• American youth spend an average of 700 hours a year in school
• American youth average watching 1,500 hours of television a year.
• Children are exposed to 30,000 commercials a year.
  

In a study conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health, it was found that children have a difficult time deciding what is fiction, and what is reality. They embellish stories with their own ideas, added people and objects not in the movie they had watched, and had a hard time telling when a story ended. Nearly half of the children in the study thought a person on television had spoken directly to them and 20% had actually answered back. It's not until age 10 that children are generally able to identify cartoons as fantasy and can distinguish between funny and serious violence. Children cannot identify the motives behind acts of violence.

Silverblatt, Art. Media Literacy: Keys to Interpreting Media Messages. 2nd Edition. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001.