Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (2008)

Consuming Kids throws desperately needed light on the practices of a relentless multi-billion dollar marketing machine that now sells kids and their parents everything from junk food and ... See full summary »

Directors:

Adriana Barbaro, Jeremy Earp

Writers:

Adriana Barbaro, Jeremy Earp

Stars:

Daniel Acuff, Enola Aird, Michael Brody

Cast

Credited cast:
Daniel Acuff	...	Himself
Enola Aird	...	Herself
Michael Brody	...	Himself
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Nancy Carlsson-Paige	...	Herself
Peggy Charren	...	Herself (archive footage)
Anderson Cooper	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cindy Crawford	...	Herself (archive footage)
Fred Furth	...	Himself (archive footage)
Charles Gibson	...	Himself (archive footage)
Josh Golin	...	Himself
Sean Hannity	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lucy Hughes	...	Herself
Bob Iger	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Robert A. Iger)
Allen Kanner	...	Himself

Storyline

Consuming Kids throws desperately needed light on the practices of a relentless multi-billion dollar marketing machine that now sells kids and their parents everything from junk food and violent video games to bogus educational products and the family car. Drawing on the insights of health care professionals, children's advocates, and industry insiders, the film focuses on the explosive growth of child marketing in the wake of deregulation, showing how youth marketers have used the latest advances in psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience to transform American children into one of the most powerful and profitable consumer demographics in the world. Consuming Kids pushes back against the wholesale commercialization of childhood, raising urgent questions about the ethics of children's marketing and its impact on the health and well-being of kids.

---

Plot Keywords:

nagging child | marketing | children | demographics | ethics | 

---

Genres:

Documentary

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 October 2008 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Media Education Foundation

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

[first lines]
James U. McNeal: [pioneering youth marketer] The consumer embryo begins to develop during the first year of existence. Children begin their consumer journey in infancy. And they certainly deserve consideration as consumers at that time.

User Reviews

A case study in selection bias

I understand that the film makers motives are good but the manipulative messaging and one sided view coming from the film hurts its credibility. Distorting the truth for a good cause is still a lie.

What you will see is the worse of the worse in exploitative marketing to children, much of which the viewer has never seen. This selection of content is meant to illicit an emotional response of parents so they go out and demand the censorship we see every generation from people reaching middle age. It is the same old cliché of "this generation is going to hell in a hand-basket," which every generation has bemoaned since time immemorial, only this time it ironically the boomers doing the moaning.

What you will not see is the people who grew up with this level of intense marketing or what effect, if any, the marketing had on these people? I have an idea: why not let parents turn off the TV if they are so worried. How about taking some responsibility if you think this is a problem.

That last thing we need are moralists making decisions for everybody.