My daughter, not even three years old yet, just started asking for things she sees on commercials. I hear things like, “Can I make a penguin at Build-a-Bear?” and “Can I have chocolate milk, Mommy?” Luckily, she takes “Maybe…” for an answer, and forgets about the item she wants right after the commercial is over. Still, I can only imagine what will happen when she gets older, and what she’ll do once she gets to school and sees her friends with all the latest toys and gadgets and wearing all the latest styles. Here are a few things I’ve thought about and learned.
Limit exposure to commercials
This is one thing I’ve been doing for a while and will be doing even more now that I’m noticing the effect of commercials. We watch PBS a lot, and a big part of the reason is because it’s advertisement-free. You can also get your child videos of his favorite shows. But, of course, you can’t shield your child from all commercials, ads, and peer influence, especially more so the older your child gets, so here are a few other things to try with older kids.
Talk about why she wants something
I found this idea in a Girl Scouts Journey book and loved it. Since you can’t shield your child from seeing all ads and commercials, you can teach your child to understand the influence they have on her. For a week or so, have her keep a journal of everything she wants, and have her also write down what made her want that thing. Was it an ad she saw in a magazine? Was it something her friends all have? After she identifies what caused her to want the object, have her think about why she wants it and if she really needs it. Might she just want it so that she can tell her friends she has what they have? Might she just want it because a commercial made the item look like it will
Talk about how advertisements influence him
When watching TV together and the commercials come one, talk about how each commercial makes you want what it’s trying to sell. A food commercial might take advantage of your feeling hungry and try to appeal to your sense of taste. Commercials about laptops or phones might make it seem like you’ll be more cool if you have what they’re trying to sell. Talk about the sort of things they do and say to make you want their product. Ask him to think of a time when he got something he wanted after seeing it in an advertisement, and it wasn’t as good as the ad said it would be.
Just for fun: Make your own commercial
For a fun project together (and this can even be done in a classroom as a group project), have your child make a pretend commercial about a made-up product. Tell him to design it so that people want his product. To add a twist, you can make the object be something that normally people wouldn’t want to buy, like a plain cardboard box or a broken toy for example. As he designs his commercial, talk about the things he can do to make people feel like they need his product. He can make it seem like his product will make people’s lives easier or will make them look cooler.
Image Credit: erikdungan
Image Copyright: sxc.hu/erikdungan
Image Caption: Helping your child understand the message ads are sending can go a long way toward combating their influence.