Commercial Free Zones
Posted
September 17, 2007 at
5:16 pm by
Jessica
Ever heard of The Motherhood Project? No? Well, allow me to enlighten you.
It’s a group of moms working to make their homes as commercial free as possible so that all will be right with the world and children will grow and experience tranquility and serenity that will transcend all aspects of life, respecting the child and making the world a better place.
I like number deux and quatre of their little mission:
2. To reassert ourselves and our values in the lives of our children. We will teach our children self-discipline, empathy, moderation, and other values that will help them resist the messages of marketing.
4. To make our homes and families commerce-free zones. To the degree that we are able, we will limit our children’s exposure to advertising and marketing.
So, that’s pretty convenient, don’tchya think?…to blame advertising for your children’s behavior, instead of your own parenting?
Are children incapable of being taught to value intangibles? Can little Johnny not resist the Wii, without censoring its existence? What if other children tell little Johnny about the Wii? Although, I’m assuming most of these kids would be homeschooled, considering they say this:
With regard to activities or technologies that raise threats to the health and well-being of children (activities such as advertising and marketing to children and certain new bio-technologies and cyber-technologies), we seek to preserve the dignity and integrity of children. We favor a shifting of the burden of proof from those who would be adversely affected by the adoption of a potentially harmful activity or technology to those who propose its adoption.
I would think that mothers within this organization shun the mainstream, including schools.
Tags: advertising, commercialism, Parenting, The-Motherhood-Project |
21 Responses to “Commercial Free Zones”
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1. Meg said:
September 18, 2007 @ 5:41 am
I agree with their goals, and I would never consider homeschooling. The key word here is moderation. I don’t want to raise my kids to feel like shopping is recreational or that they need to have everything that’s advertised. And I think the Wii looks like fun.
2. Jessica said:
September 18, 2007 @ 9:57 am
I agree with moderation too, but this organization doesn’t want ANY marketing or advertising for any toys or itmes that are geared for children under 6. IMO, that is hardly moderation.
3. Rita said:
September 18, 2007 @ 11:01 am
I guess my opinion is, who is it hurting? If they want to live like that, then so be it. I mean the Amish do more than that to keep themselves isolated, so really what’s the difference?
4. Jessica said:
September 18, 2007 @ 2:25 pm
Yeah, but the Amish don’t go out and lobby and threaten companies to push their values and POV on everyone else. The thing that bugs me about these chicks, is that they actively try to legislate and strong arm companies to conform to their personal values and not necessarily the values of the majority.
I actually like toys. I like giving my 4 year old the etoys catalog, with a sharpie and asking him to circle what he wants for Christmas. I enjoy living viacariously through my younger guy’s Disney infatuation. It’s fun.
If you can’t raise your kids properly and want big business to step in and censor toy advertising because you can’t do your job, that’s fine, but do it on your own! (Lke the Amish do!)
5. julymom said:
September 18, 2007 @ 4:07 pm
Jess, I think I agree with you here. It’s kind of like blaming the fast food industry for making kids fat. I prefer for my son to not see commercials, which I is why I used to love PBS Kids Sprout, but now even THEY have commercials, though weird ones, like for mops or life insurance (weird, huh?) or the Disney Channel when he was younger (yeah, yeah, I let my kid watch TV when he was a toddler, and I’m sure it’ll keep him out of Yale or Harvard, but whatever). Now that he’s a little older I let him watch Toon Disney in the evenings (which has tons of commercials) and of course he screeches that he wants EVERYTHING that’s advertised. Here’s where the parenting comes in: I explain to him that he can’t have them because he doesn’t need them. Just like I tell him he can’t eat McDonalds every night because it’s not healthy. Ground breaking, I know.
I agree that commercials aimed at children are wrong, but I doubt that they’re going to change no matter how many people picket outside their headquarters or put their sprockets in a bubble, so I take control of the situation, because I am a PARENT.
6. Kristy said:
September 21, 2007 @ 9:14 am
How dare these crazy women try to protect young children! If it comes down to the rights of big corporations to make a buck vs. the rights of four-year-olds to experience some version of childhood that does not involve a Visa Platinum card, clearly the corporations must be protected. It’s the American way!
7. Jessica said:
September 21, 2007 @ 10:10 am
Yeah, but if it were fundamentalist women trying to push their values on your kids, like abortion is wrong or something, you’d be the first one having a fit.
Am I right?
Teach your own kids your personal values, leave mine out of it.
Advertising is not a univeral value system like, don’t kill or don’t harm anyone.
8. Kristy said:
September 21, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
I think it could be argued that commercial consumerism *is* the universal value system in America these days, and it’s to our detriment. I just read that last year was the first time since the depression that the average American spent more than he/she earned.
I’m not saying I agree with total bans on advertising of children’s products, but as a parent I would appreciate not having to spend an unreasonable amount of time and energy fighting off the increasingly ubiquitous ads for everything from crappy food to crappy toys. Even schools are not always free of ads anymore. If adults are the ones with money, why don’t advertisers aim their ads at us? We know exactly why.
I guess I just was taken aback by the amount of vitriol you directed of a group of mothers trying to protect very young children from being targeted and manipulated by big companies.
9. Kristy said:
September 21, 2007 @ 1:03 pm
And actually, both of the items that you quoted from the agenda deal with how these women choose to run their own homes. I don’t see anything about regulating advertising in general, just encouragement for people wanting to shield their own kids from being bombarded.
10. Jessica said:
September 21, 2007 @ 4:56 pm
Believe what you want, on their website they promote themselves as government and business policy changers in several areas of the website. I’m not going to spoonfeed this information, it’s available on the site if anyone is truly interested:
“We are focused on social and cultural transformation. We believe that an important effect of such a transformation will be a more profound cultural appreciation for children and for the work that mothers — and fathers — do.”
11. Kristy said:
September 21, 2007 @ 10:41 pm
I am talking about the two items that you quoted. It’s interesting that you cited them as being especially crazy, when neither of them mentions anything about laws or society, and both focus on parental action inside the home. You’re accusing them of not wanting to have to take responsibility for raising their own kids, but at the same time you accuse them of being over zealous in sheltering their kids. Which is it?
12. Marina said:
September 27, 2007 @ 12:59 am
“I guess I just was taken aback by the amount of vitriol you directed of a group of mothers trying to protect very young children from being targeted and manipulated by big companies.”
Me too. I try to keep advertising out of our home, in what we watch on screen, what we read and so on, we’re actually pretty successful. This is my choice and I don’t think I’ve ever discussed it with anyone other than my husband. Even then we have talked about the “hows” rather than the “whys”, it seemed obvious to both of us. I don’t understand why anyone would actually want to have advertising directed at their children. I do worry about media literacy, but I will tackle that when my children are older. They go to school and they see advertising at their friends’ homes, but the media they are exposed to at home is much more interesting than adverts! Neither of my childen has ever said anything about it.
They recently got a DVD from the library with a huge amount of product placements and sure enough it’s been requests for McDonalds and Nikes ever since. Yes, they do get McDonalds now and then, do I want them to have more? No! Do I want my 9 and 7 year olds to be aware of brand names and clothing? Not for as long as I can avoid it Thanks! I am all for parental control and choices, adverts make me have to fight with the coporations about my children’s preferences. We have enough to fight about and to teach them without inviting the advertisers to have a say in our own home. I wish these women luck and strength, in their own homes AND in the public arena.
I would be very interested to know just what your objection is. They are pushing their point of view, you seem to think it is okay for everyone else to push theirs. Is it only okay if you are motivated by commerce and not if you are motivated by protecting children and families?
13. Rita said:
September 27, 2007 @ 8:37 am
I’ve never been too swayed either way, and well, my kids have learned about the glitz of advertising and its lies on their own. Somewhere around the age of 5ish, my two older kids both felt screwed by toys that seemed a whole hell of a lot different on TV than they did in real life. I think that bright kids will figure it out anyway, and of course as parents we can help drum that lesson in by making them spend their own hard earned money on absolute crap we know they’ll be nothing but disappointed with. That’s what parenting is all about.
14. Jessica said:
September 27, 2007 @ 1:41 pm
I agree and I also want to add, that supporting a free market system, ie; it’s a free country, doesn’t mean that I’m pushing my values down anybody throats.
Marina, I don’t care what you censor or how you parent, that is your choice and it should be your choice. I would have an issue however, if you took it upon yourself to eliminate child product advertising for everyone based on what you feel is inappropriate for YOUR children. The world needn’t bow down to your parenting skills and hang ups. Most parents feel they can create a balance without other parents deciding for them what is appropriate and what isn’t.
But a long as your censorship is limited to your household — go for it!
15. Allena said:
September 27, 2007 @ 6:06 pm
“I don’t want to raise my kids to feel like shopping is recreational”
Wait. What? You mean it’s not?
16. ibc said:
October 22, 2007 @ 1:07 pm
“I guess I just was taken aback by the amount of vitriol you directed of a group of mothers trying to protect very young children from being targeted and manipulated by big companies.”
I have to “third” this sentiment.
I don’t think anyone is trying to stop you from raising your kids to be good little consumer ‘droids. There’s nothing in the Constitution that protects the right of corporations to use the public airwaves to bombard children with advertising, though.
For my part, I’ll send my money to any organization that fights to limit that sort of thing. Hooray for America!
17. Jessica said:
October 22, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
You’re just being obtuse.
Last time I checked, censoring advertising and happy meal toys to foster your values (on other people’s children) is not a constitutional right.
Try parenting.
18. Meg said:
October 22, 2007 @ 7:51 pm
We censor all kinds of things pertaining to children already. Soda and junk food in schools, anyone? Or waiting till the late evening to show “adult programming”? Or internet parental blocks? The rating system for movies? For all of these examples, you could say that this is what parenting is all about. But we accept these because they’re already in place and we’ve become accustomed to them. Imagine a world where it was the norm when your children didn’t want you to buy certain things just because they looked cool on a commercial or in a movie, but because they actually wanted to be active and play with them (which still happens, I have to point out….we haven’t quite turned into a complete consumer culture)
If that’s what these mothers are after, then I’m right there with them.
19. Jessica said:
October 22, 2007 @ 8:56 pm
All of those things are in place for stupid people or to limit the choices for those incapable of making good choices or providing information to make a choice.
Worry about your own kids. Censor your own kids if you can’t teach them properly. If I want a etoys catalog delivered to my house, it’s really none of your business.
20. ibc said:
October 23, 2007 @ 9:09 am
You’re just being obtuse.
Last time I checked, censoring advertising and happy meal toys to foster your values (on other people’s children) is not a constitutional right.
And I’m guessing you’re being intentionally obtuse about the purpose of the organization–otherwise you’ve got nothing to hang your bloggy outrage on.
Calling restrictions on commercial advertising “censorship” reminds me of all the 80s perfomance artists who would cry “censorship” when the NEA would refuse to give them cash for smearing themselves in feces.
Try parenting.
“Tiny tantrum” is pretty fitting.
21. Meg said:
October 23, 2007 @ 11:07 am
This entire argument has been blown out of proportion.
[quote comment="115950"]Worry about your own kids. Censor your own kids if you can’t teach them properly. If I want a etoys catalog delivered to my house, it’s really none of your business.[/quote]
Neither I, nor anyone on the website in question, have ever said that people shouldn’t get catalogs. Catalogs are designed, rightly so, for people who want to buy things from that company. And no one has ever said that you shouldn’t buy your children things. If these women were successful, we would see less advertising for children’s products, period. Not an invasion into the homes of American families.
What I dislike is that childhood has become so commercialized that every single freaking thing you buy is covered in some damn cartoon character. C needed a chair, so I went to get one, and the only ones I could find had either Dora, Elmo, or Cars on them. A 2 yr old hasn’t even had the time to formulate the idea that her entire world doesn’t have to be covered in Dora. Or that she could choose what things she wants.
What I want is for my children not to be constantly bombarded by blatant (and hidden) advertising, when they should be able to form ideas on their own about what they like based on the merits of the actual thing, not which cartoon character is smeared all over it.