by Rebecca K.

Created on: November 19, 2011

Advertisers are more to blame for consumerism in children for sure. Just flip through any TV station on Saturday mornings or tune into Qubo channel. Toy after toy add comes on and worse yet, they repeat! My Best Fish Friend, Wuggle Pets, Fushigi, pretty soon your child is brainwashed into wanting some toy that isn't practical, isn't going to last and likely, one they don't even need.

This leads the question of, "What's a parent to do?" Should we limit their TV? Change the channel? Pop in a movie instead? Now especially that the holidays are coming the advertisers are pulling out all the stops to draw children to their ultimately frivolous and space consuming product. It could be the very thing your child wants most- how are we to deny them that?

Prevention! Netflix is a great way to keep kids from viewing silly commercials. I notice just watching a bit of Qubo channel that my four year old son was asking me for a Wuggle Pet. If he hadn't been watching the station he wouldn't have seen the commercial nor asked for it.

The true issue is not that commercials are on stations with kid shows. The issue is that the ads repeat over and over again creating a brainwash scenario. This certainly cannot be an accident. If ads were shown in a fair fashion throughout the day it would not become a problem, nor so annoying. Kids would have a better range and selection of what type of toy they might like to have and would be able to make a better choice for birthday or holiday wish lists.

The other issue is the ads themselves. They are loud! They also have some insanely fast and busy jingle and are rather obnoxious. Add to that some flashy, silly graphics and the kids are hooked. They are in essence advertising a lame product but are covering it with smoke and mirrors, trapping kids and parents.

Advertisers should be limited in how many times a day they can air a particular commercial. They should have to keep it below a certain level of decibels. The commercial should not sound louder than the TV show. More variety of commercials should be aired. Parents should not have to keep their kids in a bubble to prevent brainwashing. It is blatantly obvious and something needs to be done about it.

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