Are Our Children Being Conned? Toys, Ads and the Internet

The Children's Television Act was written in 1990 - twenty years ago. Think about how much has changed in that time. Is the legislation still relevant, or has it lapsed into an irrelevant Dutch dike with not enough little Dutch boys to plug all the leaks? What does the government say about media and our kids? Are our children adequately protected from commercialism? Given that, for the most part, the legislation predates the digital era (mobile devices, social media, etc.), what loopholes and tunnels exist giving advertisers free rein?

Anastasia Goodstein (pictured at left*) has posted a great article about the 1990 Children's Television Act and how it needs to be updated entitled, "Let's Rewrite the Rules for Kids' Media." The post is at Bloomberg's Business Week and talks about how advertisers can create content and obey and disregard the law at the same time. It also refers to a report by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center (a non-profit research center on children's media and education issues) entitled "D is for Digital." "The report documents key factors influencing the current market environment and offers recommendations to expand educational uses of digital media for industry action." Ganz Cooney was one of the creators of Sesame Street and is still a leading proponent of best practices for educational media. (You can find "D is for Digital" here at the bottom of the page.)

Goldstein writes, "There's little doubt as to the reason behind these efforts. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, a Mattel executive proudly announced that the company won't run any outside advertising in its Barbie Girls virtual world. Come on. The entire site is a Barbie ad. On Web sites like Stardoll, children under 13 can dress their avatars in virtual DKNY clothes."

We like to think our children know when they're being conned outright. The trouble is, that's adult thinking. "Why all the fuss over messaging to kids? An American Psychological Assn. task force has recommended limits, citing research that shows that kids under the age of 8 can't critically comprehend TV ad messages and that they're prone to accept advertiser messages as truthful, accurate, and unbiased."

Goldstein presents some very good ideas on what should be done. This is one you probably should forward to your legislators on the state and federal levels.

If you have kids or grand kids, this is an article you really should read. While I'm not a fan of big government, I'm much less a fan of big business getting their way to our children's detriment. Find the article here: "Let's Rewrite the Rules for Kids' Media"

*Picture from Bloomberg Businessweek profile of Goodstein. Anastasia Goodstein is a Bloomberg columnist and the publisher of Ypulse.com. Her book, Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online, was published by St. Martin's Press in March, 2007.