overturning the tables on consumerism

CCFC TOADY Awards 2010 - Thanks for Voting!

2010-04-27T13:46:00.001-04:00

CCFC TOADY Awards 2010
I just voted for the worst toy of the year. Voting is now open for the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood’s annual TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the worst toy of the year – you wouldn’t believe the nominees. Vote now here
Last year, Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Barbie took home the top prize. From thousands of toys that promote violence and/or precocious sexuality to children and push branded entertainment at the expense of children’s play, CCFC has selected five exceptional finalists. Who will win the dreaded TOADY? It’s up to you.

Thanks!"

The Story of Bottled Water

2010-03-30T16:17:00.003-04:00

We are buying "Manufactured Demand" by the gallon! Or rather the litre.

Check out this new video from the folks who made The Story of Stuff.

Canada Ad-Free Zone for Kids?

2010-02-26T12:16:00.002-05:00

Is it possible?

This article in the Toronto Star points to exciting opportunities for stopping the ad-attack on kids. Read the article and investigate how individuals can help in the campaign. Add any ideas here!

Getting It Right

2010-02-06T11:05:00.008-05:00

click image to see larger

From the Toronto Star, February 6, 2010

Funny but does it hit a little close to home?

Create a Less Commercial Christmas

2009-11-23T17:52:00.001-05:00

The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood has created a guide with suggestions for the Christmas holiday season. See it here.

Enough Stuff: When Pop Culture Grows a Conscience : The Rebel Yell

2009-10-27T17:11:00.002-04:00

Here's something to try as a family or a discussion group with young people. Watch that engaging movie Wall-E and make note of what it's saying about 'Enough Stuff' or is it TOO MUCH STUFF?

CCFC Victory: Disney Offers Parents Refunds on Baby Einstein Videos

2009-10-22T15:48:00.001-04:00

CCFC Victory: Disney Offers Parents Refunds on Baby Einstein Videos: "CCFC Victory: Disney Offers Refunds on Baby Einstein Videos"
Disney has finally admitted that their claims about Baby Einstein were indeed false.

From Overturning the Tables, Chapter 9

Smarter Babies
In 1997 the Clintons held a White House Conference on Early Childhood Development and Learning to garner support for funding of early childcare programs. One fact that emerged was that brain development is fastest in the first three years of life. Building on this fact, within a month Baby Einstein was launched. Buoyed up by moms who were keen to create super babies and who were themselves raised on Sesame Street and technology and despite medical advice to the contrary, this $18,000 investment turned into a $25 million company in five years. This success spawned a flood of educational toys from virtually every toy manufacturer. From there it was an easy leap to cable and network television for babies.

Misinterpretation of messages about early child development from both the Clinton and Bush administrations has been used to fuel the increase in educational and developmental toys and resources. Many of the claims that toys can create smarter children have been proven to be completely false. Baby Einstein foreign language tapes, for example, fly in the face of evidence that babies cannot learn from taped voices but need human interaction to acquire language. Many child care providers and most parents and grandparents are not equipped with a background in child development and are not able to distinguish fact from sales pitch.

Discussion:
How does the success of this product illustrate our desire for a quick fix and instant gratification?

How does it fit into our competitive world that tells us goods are required to compete?

What other examples can you name of parents "buying into" gimmicks and experts to raise their children?

The Commercialization of Childhood

2009-10-14T10:26:00.003-04:00

Consuming Kids is a brand new and critically-acclaimed film from the Media Education Foundation featuring the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood staff. The film is an eye-opening account of the pervasive and pernicious effects of children’s advertising on the health and well-being of kids.

CCFC members all over the country are organizing local screenings of Consuming Kids. A screening is the perfect way to raise awareness about the commercialization of childhood and to connect with other local parents and activists.

Click here for guidelines for hosting a showing and an order form for the film.

School Junk Food

2009-09-11T11:22:00.002-04:00

My grandson has just started Grade One. It's HUGE!

On the first day he brought home a monster stack of papers and forms to be read overnight and returned. One of them was the announcement that there would be 21 pizza days during the year and with it the obligatory demand for cash.

Now raising money for school is one thing but forcing parents to buy junk food for their kids is another. The practice not only makes kids eat unhealthy food or be ostracized but reinforces the idea that junk food is A-OK!

Here's a link to what two angry moms say.

Enough Stuff: "Two Angry Moms: 'If you're frustrated with the school food environment in your community, you've come to the right place! It all started with my daughters' lunch. My husband and I were packing healthy lunches for our kids, only to find that we were being undermined by the school's offerings of junk food with no nutritional value. It made me angry. So I decided to do something about it. I made a movie.

Along with the movie, we've assembled some tools that will help you create change in your school district. Now our goal is to grow from two to two million angry moms.
Join us! Your kids will thank you!'"

From Overturning the Tables Chapter 10:
One important place to begin working outside of the home is your child’s school. Today, children are being exposed to more and more in-school marketing campaigns ranging from subtle reminders of who donated school equipment to blatant advertisements. The private sector is rushing through the school doors as many schools boards, often strapped for cash, are still wrestling with establishing policies. (See Chapter Three.) Sometimes this partnership works well; sometimes it results in exploitation of children and their parents. Here are some suggestions for parents and educators:
• Take an inventory of advertising in your child’s school.
• Bring your concerns to parent/teacher meetings, or write to the board directly.
• Join with other parents to offer alternative funding opportunities.
• Get active! Organize an anti-consumerism event in your school and/or church community.
• Discuss school events such as graduations and birthday parties. How can consumerism be reduced in each?

If You Can't Fix It, Don't Break It

2009-08-21T13:29:00.007-04:00

Here's a 17-year-old video starring David Suzuki's daughter that speaks volumes today.

View it here.

From Overturning the Tables, Chapter 14:
Kids have passion and energy. They understand giving and want to share. They are eager to learn about other people and the earth. They have strong principles and are quickly outraged by injustice. They want to do something! In a world gone crazy over consuming, the actions of these young leaders are a sign of hope.

To Do:

All faith communities can offer a “meal” where children can sample alternative ideas. Young people need to be free to investigate and learn about the world. When kids decide on their choices and their passions, the church can provide assistance and interest and can celebrate their efforts and successes. Being a supportive environment does not mean forcing a curriculum on young people.

Enough Stuff

2009-07-30T18:30:00.001-04:00

Enough Stuff: "Back to school is second only to Christmas for sales. Don't buy into the illusion that kids need all that junk to fit in or that they need to start worrying about school in mid summer. These sales pitches get worse and worse because they work. They work because we get sucked in."

Read more for ideas on avoiding the Back to School madness.

Does Consumerism Equal Bratty Kids?

2009-05-18T20:17:00.005-04:00

Many experts today claim that the role of parent has gone from attachment to enmeshment! Parents are just too wrapped up in their kids' every whim, demanding that everyone cater to them or at least observe their perceived rights. The results, say many, are the rudest kids in history!

"Not all parents' fault though," says Dr. Susan Linn, who teaches psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and is director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. She points out that children learn societal values not just through parental modeling, but also from the stories and toys passed on to them.

“Commercial culture tends to glorify negative behaviors on the continuum from rudeness to violence,” says Linn. “Anti-social behaviors capture the attention of viewers and add to audience share, and in a world where physical violence reigns, rudeness seems ordinary — it becomes a behavioral norm.”

Just take a quick survey the most popular commercial offerings for kids, Linn says. On "American Idol," which, according to Nielsen ratings, is a top program among 2- to 11-year-old viewers, the judges aren’t just rude but truly scathing to contestants. And, of course, a best-selling line of dolls is, literally, named Bratz.

Feel-bad Advertising

2009-05-18T16:04:00.008-04:00

The beauty industry should be called the uglification industry says scholar Margaret Morganroth Gullette. Although she speaks about an anti aging culture, we should be aware of how the age boundary is also stretching in the other direction.

One of the worst things is that the beauty industry is addressing younger and younger kids, sometimes directly and sometimes through their parents. Adolescents are getting silicone implants and plastic surgery. Children are dieting, waxing, and seeking out cosmetics. Even boys are encouraged to work out, slim down, or buff up.

No one is exempt from the image attacks!

From Overturning the Tables, chapter 4:

Juliet B. Schor is a social analyst, professor in Boston and Britain, and
best-selling author of books like Born to Buy. She has studied extensively the link between media, advertising, consumerism, and well-being. She found that children who are most involved in the consumer culture are more depressed, more anxious, have lower self-esteem, and suffer from psychosomatic ailments. Healthy children become worse off when enmeshed in consumerism, while children with emotional problems see improvement when they become disengaged from the consumer culture.

Check out www.adiosbarbie.com/ for a more sensible approach to body image.

Video has Consumer Cautions

2009-05-11T15:21:00.004-04:00

A newspaper article has documented the tremendous success of The Story of Stuff.

From Overturning the Tables: Read chapter 6. Discuss the 3 R's. (Add Repair as a fourth) How could the 4 R's be easier if we didn't consume so much?

To Do: Parents, Sunday school teachers, and youth leaders will find The Story of Stuff a great discussion starter. Watch it for yourself: it's a quick course in Stuff 101.

Advertising Ruling

2009-05-01T08:33:00.003-04:00

Here's news about an organization attempting to balance the commercial marketing playing field.

ADBUSTERS WINS A LEGAL VICTORY AGAINST CANADA'S MEDIA GIANTS

After 15 years of legal tussling to bring democracy to the public airwaves, Adbusters has finally scored a great victory. The Supreme Court of British Columbia has granted an appeal in a case against Canada's CBC and Canwest Global, giving us the go-ahead to set a precedent and establish some public rights over the airwaves (check out the judges’ ruling here).

People are spending an unparalleled 8.5 hours per day in front of screens and even with the influx of new screen formats – cell phones, computers, Kindle – TV is still dominant. It’s the most powerful social communications medium of our time. And yet it is a place where commercial imperatives rule and dissenting voices are routinely censored. Adbusters’ attempts to purchase airtime from major commercial broadcasters for its socially-minded public service spots have been repeatedly denied over the years.

The airwaves are public property – just like city sidewalks or parks. They are a public space where freedom of speech must prevail. This is an inspiring idea for media activists and could pave the way for further legal victories down the road not only on the TV airwaves, but in cyberspace as well.

Not surprisingly, none of Canwest’s 13 daily newspapers or 23 TV channels covered the appeal court ruling. The silence has been deafening. Here’s who did cover the story: CBC Radio, the Globe and Mail, the Georgia Straight and the Tyee.

CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, MTV and the Food Channel have also repeatedly refused to sell Adbusters airtime over the past 15 years. The endgame will be a series of lawsuits around the world forcing the half a dozen media megacorporations controlling the bulk of news and entertainment flows around the planet to return some control back to the public.

Overturning the Tables Review: the Observer

2009-04-04T17:40:00.005-04:00

It is so tempting to buy my children that plush bear at the dollar store for a treat, only to have it quickly forgotten. It is also all too clear how everything from boots to bandages are marketed to children. Overturning the Tables serves as an important reminder that consumerism and relentless marketing are destructive forces in our society.
Although I was aware of the general issues, Julie Kinkaid’s research filled in the gaps. She argues that marketing to children harms them in numerous ways, from promoting unhealthy eating to undermining their self-esteem.
Kinkaid isn’t shy about staking out her position. At times it feels like the sentences are being shouted through a megaphone. If the book were illustrated, it might depict evil marketers hunched over a bubbling cauldron readying it for the next pint-sized addition.

Read the entire review by Kyle Taggart.

Teens with a Higher Agenda

2009-03-31T18:14:00.002-04:00

Check out this great video by staff and students at Weston Collegiate in Toronto. Kids do have big ideas on their minds these days and they can share their talents and time to make a difference.

Another Holy-Day Co-opted by Consumerism

2009-03-28T16:33:00.007-04:00

Like Christmas, Easter has become another excuse for shopping - the meaning of the day lost in a wash of chocolate and new finery.

"Slow" Easter

The warnings are out to retailers about a tough season ahead.

The Easter bunny will be handing out fewer jelly beans, chocolates and other gifts this year, as even he is cutting back. According to the American National Retailers Federation’s 2009 Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, Americans will spend an average of $116.59 on Easter candy, gifts, food, and decorations, down from an average of $135.03 last year.

Total spending in the U.S. on the holiday will only reach $12.73 billion!

The Real Meaning of Easter

Many will opt for less expensive celebrations this year, spending less on food, gifts, flowers, and candy. Luckily Easter falls three weeks later than it did in 2008. “Many Americans view Easter as the official kick-off to spring,” said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch. “A later holiday could mean people will take advantage of retailers’ Easter promotions as a way to spruce up their spring wardrobe.”

In A Spending Mood
“With Easter falling so late this year, retailers will have plenty of time to entice shoppers with deals on spring apparel and other Easter merchandise,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Retailers are hopeful that a late Easter will bring warmer weather and put shoppers in the mood to buy clothing, flowers and other holiday gifts.”

Only In Canada You Say

In Canada, retailing giant Wal-Mart is cautiously optimistic, looking forward to 5 weeks in March this year with no closing for Easter as there was last year and a later Easter meaning more time to drum up Easter sales.

Total sales at Wal-Mart Canada increased in the mid single digits, despite an increasingly weak consumer market place. In March 2009, Wal-Mart Canada announced plans to open an additional 26 supercentres, reflecting strong consumer demand for its grocery and food offerings. Wal-Mart Canada will have 82 supercentres and 316 stores overall by the end of the fiscal year.

That Wascally Wabbit
In 2008 we celebrated the earliest Easter holiday since 1818. Just like a generous Easter Rabbit, Wal-Mart Canada extended shopping hours during the Easter weekend so that customers could get all of their egg, candy, and toy "goodies" shopping done. Wal-Mart claims that Easter is the number-two holiday for food and confectionary purchases; and is the third-busiest shopping time of the year. (Christmas and Back to School are bigger)

This was last year's spin:
"With Easter falling earlier than it has in nearly 200 years, many Canadians have been taken by surprise," said Jim Thompson, Wal-Mart Canada's Senior Vice President of Operations. "As Easter sneaks up, we're not only offering customers the prices and merchandise selection they're looking for, but the flexible shopping hours they need to get all their shopping done in time."
"We aim to make these busy holiday periods as easy and stress-free as possible by continually adding new, customer-focused services."

Praise the Lord!

From Overturning the Tables, Chapter 11

According to the U.S. National Retail Federation, in 2007 shoppers
who celebrated Easter were expected to spend $14.37 billion—mostly on new spring outfits, food for the Easter meal, Easter candy, gifts, flowers, and decorations. I suspect that only a minority of these shoppers centred their celebrations on the resurrection story.

For Discussion
How could the following apply to Easter celebrations?

Most holidays are also holy days. Help children find the spiritual meaning behind special days and celebrate in a fitting way. It is important to mark
occasions with special gifts and feasting—wise consuming, good stewardship, and going green should be about more enjoyment and fulfillment not less.

From "Stop Shopping" – to – "Life After Shopping"

2009-03-11T13:37:00.003-04:00

By Rev Billy

At the beginning of the John Huston film “The Night of the Iguana,” from the play by Tennessee Williams, a church is completely emptied of its Sunday worshippers when the minister has a melt-down, and begins to rave. He descends from the pulpit spewing his holy wrath and the poor parishioners run out of the church into the rain.

There comes a time in the life of a society where we all need to be forced from our institutions and out into nature, where we begin over. We are at such a time now, with our established organizations, the governments, super malls, banks, and corporations emptying of dollars and people.

...Now we are standing in the rain, the institution has emptied. We shopped till we dropped, didn’t we… The “Shopocalypse” is at hand! And we Americans stand in the wreckage of miles of pavement, empty billboards, dead super malls… We want to change our church’s name because our communities are bravely changing around us. Our neighborhoods and Main Streets, shuttered by the big boxes and their big banks, are now blossoming again. There are record start-ups each week, usually family businesses. People are meeting their neighbors and are trading with each other, skill-swapping and loaning tools. This last Christmas, indy shops out-performed chain stores. We shopped local. Local-a-lujah!

And so we stand outside, soaked to the skin, and we feel different. We see the corporations waving to us. They are trying to catch our eye...But we sense the over-advertising, over-packaging, the depth of the debt. We have something so much more powerful calling to us. Our neighborhoods and towns might be healthy again, and our expansion-addled America could stop and live again with life. Our Life After Shopping!

Is Canada much different?

From Overturning the Tables:

Every week we enter the sanctuaries of the Church of Eternal Shopping....Slogans are the mantras we repeat; products are the manna we seek; and commercials provide values to live by. We are comforted by the marketplace’s use of religious language: “We care,” “Trust us,” “Come Alive!”

...But this religion relies on fear and false hope. Seek out the latest products and you can find acceptance and happiness, but deprive yourself of these products and you may be cast from society, or live a miserable existence. We are swept up in these stories because they make easy sense of the world.

For Discussion:
How do messages sent out by the framers of this religion encourage greed and selfishness—human weaknesses that are opposed by the world’s major faiths?

Putting a Brake on March Break

2009-03-11T12:23:00.001-04:00

Will this March Break turn out to be week retreat at the mall for your kids? Check out some suggestions at Enough-Stuff.

Barbie Anniversary

2009-03-11T10:51:00.004-04:00

Happy Birthday Barbie

2009-03-10T20:30:00.009-04:00

Barbie's 50. So what's the big deal? Check the Barbie stats below and you'll see what the big deal is.

I am getting tired of newspaper articles about the number one selling plastic female. She has been pimped, oops primped, more than any female in the world for 50 years and is probably the best known female figure globally.

Many comments are made about how kids love to beat up on Barbie - mutilating her hair, yanking off arms and head, using markers to tattoo and graffiti her. The "experts" suggest this is all very normal behaviour and that girls really love their Barbies but just in a "rough" sort of way. Seems to me that someone should consider whether little girls have a hidden deep-seated hate on for this female figure that's been manipulated by designers into unrealistic, fantasized images of women and manipulated by advertising into the number one selling doll of all time.

Barbie is a perfect way for marketing to cross generations. The 2009 New York Fashion Week show was all about Barbie. The worlds of fashion and beauty are traditionally youth-obsessed, but the crowded show featured a 50-year-old muse. The tents were swarming with people (including quite a few little girls) who wanted to peek at the doll's runway show. Here's the another example of cross generation advertising:

A couple of years ago MAC, a Canadian company primarily famed for it’s gender-bending and drag-queen friendly take on high glam cosmetics, recruited none other than our favourite antifeminist icon, Barbie, to sell its wares.

The makeup was claimed to be for women but take a look at the young girls featured in the ads.

From Overturning the Tables:
Barbie Stats
Barbie is the world’s most famous toy and brings in around $3 billion in sales per year.
There are more Barbie dolls in the United States than people.
Today there is a Barbie ad showing everyday in over 150 countries.
Barbie is the only toy that is in the world’s top 100 brands.

Discussion: Barbie is just one of a long list of inappropriate toys on the market. In fact Barbie can seem quite harmless compared to many others.
How does the proliferation of inappropriate toys gradually create harm for both boys and girls?
How is sexuality or violence blatantly used to increase sales with no regard to children's welfare.
How does marketing encourage adults to act younger and children to act older? Why?

A New Consumerism

2009-03-04T10:48:00.004-05:00

Anti-consumerism efforts are not just a concern of the north and west.
Michael Tan, chair of Anthropology at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City,recently wrote an article about the need to rethink consumerism. He was writing as a consumer advocate and listed characteristics of a new consumerism.
Things like independent of commercial elements so that reviews and marketing will be accurate; political in the sense of engaging in advocacy. It should link up with other causes from environmental protection to the rights of indigenous communities and prevention of cruelty to animals.
He also says that the new consumerism should be “anti-consumerism.”

Traditional consumerism emphasizes getting more for your dollar (or peso), but the new consumerism will include many instances where “less is better.” For example, cheaper medicines could mean people taking more unnecessary medicines unless the consumer groups campaign for the correct use of medicines. That might include not using medicines at all. Anti-cold remedies, for example, are not considered essential; they needlessly drain household budgets, even creating health problems … In other countries, the push now is for sustainable lifestyles, with a bias for products that do the least harm to the environment. That could interface with other considerations. For example, a preference for local goods would be not only nationalistic but also eco-friendly. (The further away the source of a particular product, the more ecological costs involved because of transportation and the consumption of fuels.)… The new consumerism must encourage fair trade, helping consumers to link up directly with producers, for example, farmers for rice and other agricultural products, and with small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs, competing with the high-budget advertising and promotions of large corporations and their brand of consumerism.

Anti-Consumerism, a world-wide concern.
From Overturning the Tables, chapter 8:

There is a growing recognition of the extent to which world problems are multiplying, and an awareness of the interconnectedness of our insatiable spending, the degradation of the planet, the depletion of resources, the injustices to most of the world’s population, and the persistence of war. We are also learning that time is of the essence—the systems that make up our world will not necessarily wind down slowly giving us lots of time to react. They might very soon reach a breaking point and collapse.

For Discussion:
How can we raise our voices against a culture gone to the mall? As individuals, as a group?
▪ After discussion, make a list of things to do and how to accomplish it.
▪ Arrange to regroup and discuss progress and next steps.

Slaves to Beauty Ideas

2009-02-24T09:37:00.004-05:00

Today's comic strip "Between Friends" in the Star had this conversation over coffee between the middle-aged friends:

"Women are slaves to society's preconceived ideas of beauty - the hair colour, the make-up, the plucked eyebrows, the control-top pantyhose. At what age are women allowed to finally be comfortable in their own skin?"

"Six," was the reply.

I laughed at first and then realized that it wasn't even true!

By six, little girls are well and truely brainwashed! From beauty pageants, to manicures and pedicures, to products like lipstick and deodorant for six year olds, little girls are a prime target for marketing "beauty." A friend's little girl asked if she could go on a diet after watching a diet commercial. My grandson's friend loves nothing better than to go shopping with her mom and grandma for the newest fashions. She's five!

From Overturning the Tables, chapter six:

Girl Power in today’s advertising is false empowerment. It offers a range of choices, but within a very narrow vision—it is the choice of where to shop, or whether to look alluring or trashy. It is the power to ignore parents, to flirt, to pout, and to starve. To provide the illusion of power, the variety of product styles is expanded, but never the option of whether to buy.

Choices are often about reinforcing age-old stereotypes to discourage critical thinking. Slogans on girls’ clothes say it all—they are either a licensed shirt or have slogans like, “Born to Shop,” “Little Princess,” or “Drama Queen.” Tweens wear crop tops with “Porn Star” written across them, or jeans with “juicy” blazoned across their derrieres. These messages continue to undermine boys’ image of females. Who can take seriously someone with “Spoiled Brat” written on their chest or worse— “With these I don’t need to be Smart”?

For Discussion Groups:
Describe society's view of beauty.
Share stories of little girls being encouraged to be "slaves to preconceived ideas of beauty."
Search out examples of "persuading" in the media.

Look Again

2009-02-18T09:18:00.012-05:00

I am always amazed that whole stores can be devoted to such unnecessary stuff. I'm thinking of the ones with a zillion plastic necklaces and earrings or the ones with makeup for kids.
It's easy to overlook them as annoying and wasteful but not really harmful.

I noticed these two 8 foot high ads, snapped a couple of pics and then took a double-take. It dawned on me that these made-up models in suggestive poses were really children. Am I wrong?

What do you think about using children in these ads?

From Overturning the Tables, Chapter 4:

Always a selling instrument, advertising using sex appeal is now being aimed at teens, tweens, and children even younger. It makes them feel empowered and grown-up and sets a precedent for sex as a selling feature....Sex as a selling technique is not isolated to toys or the music idols that the dolls mirror. Daytime and prime time television programs are filled with sexual content as are many ads.

For Study Groups:
Spend time recording TV ads or collecting print ads that use sex as a selling feature. Are any appealing directly to young people? What does this do to reinforce stereotypical attitudes that various women's groups and human rights groups have worked so hard to erase?

Update:
Headline in the Toronto Star Feb 21, 2009 referring to the new Calvin Klein underwear ads:

Is designer behind the curve in a world awash with porn? Klein underwear ads imitate a booming amateur industry
Shari Graydon, a director of the Canadian watchdog group Media Action and the author of Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know, says Klein's pseudo-porn imagery with the "cellphone esthetic" is far from shocking. The campaign is merely part of a pornographic cultural phenomenon, she explains. "Kids these days are so at ease sending images of themselves, sometimes even explicit ones," says Graydon.
Carmine Sarracino and Kevin Scott, the authors of The Porning of America, argue porn has become one of the most important influences shaping our culture. Its esthetic has gone beyond the fashionable porn chic and is now so ubiquitous it's become background music – our "cultural wallpaper," they report. "Because it is everywhere it's not visible," says Sarracino.

A Boomer Appeal

2009-02-11T13:08:00.004-05:00

The world needs less buying and more giving.
The world needs less concern with self and more consideration of others.
Young people need guidance and role models.

In Chuck Underwood's PBS Special, The Boomers, he appealed to Boomers to make a difference. Speaking directly to a room full of Boomers, those who changed the world in the 60's and 70's, he said:

You once had you passion and ideals.
Do you still?
You once had your sense of power and engagement.
Do you still?
You once fought for the little guy and bettering life for the masses instead of the privileged few.
Do you still?

As boomers take their turn at the top, most [of the country] think that the world is starved for integrity.
How much of you is left?

Boomers have the power to turn aside a destructive consumer culture.

To Do: Read Overturning the Tables as a starting point. Boomers will know what to do next!

Consumerism: Encouraged by the Church?

2009-02-03T20:13:00.005-05:00

Michael Kruse is with the Presbyterian Church (USA).Michael's blog is called Kruse Kronicle and is a thoughtful and thought-provoking commentary on ministry and culture. He says this about consumerism:

I submit that it is the church, not the market economy, which is most responsible for the rise of consumerism. Market economies essentially reflect the values o f the players who participate in the economy. The church lost its influence due, not in small part, to sacred versus secular dichotomies that led factions of the church to unthinkingly embrace models of behavior from an increasingly secularized business world or to scapegoat the economy as the culprit for fostering destructive behaviors counter to the virtues that church should have been instilling all along. Frankly, some anti-consumerism activism is merely factions of the church diverting blame to the economy for the church’s failure to have effectively integrated economic life with our Christian discipleship. The reality is that when the church fails to present a compelling vision of how life has abundant meaning in relationship to God and community, the culture is going to find a substitute.

(quoted with permission)

Read the three part series.

Super Bowl Ads

2009-02-02T15:48:00.006-05:00

From Overturning the Tables, Chapter 4:

Alcohol companies spend billions of dollars each year placing ads in magazines, radio programs, and television shows that have large youth audiences because developing alcohol brand loyalty at an early age guarantees life-time customers. When Budweiser uses cartoons in their ads, is it directing its appeal to children? Coolers—the equivalent of alcoholic soda pop—are in far more ads geared to youth than to adults.

All advertising targets the desires, interests, and needs of specific groups of people. When it comes to teens and young adults, there is little difference between the wants and desires of a 16 year old and those of a 21 year old. Because of this, alcohol ads that would appeal to young adults will also appeal to underage drinkers. In both Canada and the U.S., beer companies focus much of their advertising expenditure on sporting events to associate drinking and athletic strength, success, vitality, and fun. Big ticket sports events demand and get significant amounts of advertising dollars. In 2007 the U.S. alcohol industry watchdog charged Anheuser-Busch (A-B) with using the Super Bowl to target young viewers aggressively. They said that the Super Bowl is a proven vehicle for reaching young audiences. As proof: A-B introduced the Budweiser Frogs during the Super Bowl in 1995 and in one year, tweens’ awareness of the Bud frogs was better than their awareness of Tony the Tiger or Smokey the Bear. The 2008 Super Bowl ad was a heart-warming tale of a dog that helped train a horse to pull the beer wagon. Was that for adults? The estimated economic value to the alcohol industry of underage drinking was nearly $50 billion in 2001.

Ads for the 2009 Super Bowl continued the trend of marketing alcohol and pop to kids. A-B featured the horse and dog team in several of its ads and focussed the others on "drinkability" for young skiers.

Kids were also the audience of Coke and SoBe commercials featuring animation to get the sugar across.

In case we didn't know, Heineken reminded us that we are what we drink. Heineken is a sword with honour: give yourself a good name.

The best defense is a good offense. So before anyone can critique advertising, they did it themselves. If you can, watch the fourth quarter Hulu ad with Alec Baldwin Hulu is an evil plot to destroy the world by turning your brains into gelatinous mush for free. Don't say you haven't been warned!

Start the Discussion with this:

Researchers have concluded that the more often a child sees an alcohol ad, the greater the likelihood he or she will develop positive expectations about drinking. This effect is magnified when the ads are on programs that kids and teens enjoy. Boys in particular respond more positively to ads for alcohol that are embedded within sporting events.

Though we tend to believe that ads seem innocuous and really only visible for a few seconds, consider, "Typically children watching such shows are exposed to at least one alcohol ad per hour." (Overturning the Tables)

Superbowl ads have become their own "show" and are previewed and gossiped about before the game, voted on after the game, and appear on internet sites moments after airing.

Stick Around

2009-02-01T21:34:00.004-05:00

Studies have shown that shoppers who stay at the mall for 3 hours spend 4 times as much as those who stay only 30 minutes.

Not surprising, I guess. If we assume they are feverishly purchasing every moment, then more time would equal more purchases. However, those studied were not shoppers with a long list, they were browsers. Presumably in 3 hours they found more things to buy whether they needed them or not.

It is to the retailers advantage to keep you in the mall.

Here's an excerpt from Overturning the Tables, Chapter 3.

Shopping itself has become entertainment—another treat for the kids. Supermalls like the Mall of America or West Edmonton Mall are over-the-top examples of shopping gone mad, but many Canadian cities and towns have smaller malls that also offer shoppertainment. Canadian sociologist, John Hannigan, calls them fantasy cities where we go to spend, collect, be entertained, join in community, and search for meaning.

Advertising, whether in your face or oh so subtle, permeates every corner of your life. In public areas, blank space is now an endangered species. A Saturday trip to a mall will include digital billboards, interactive signs on the floor, ads on carts and shopping bags, music, videos, entertainers and free gifts, contests and classes—anything to enhance and encourage our buying experience.

For Study Groups

Visit a large mall and see what they are doing to keep you there longer.

How would shopping with a list change the mall experience?

What are better entertainment alternatives?

Eat Less Meat To Save the Planet

2009-01-29T22:39:00.003-05:00

This advice comes from the author of a new book called Food Matters.

Read the article.

Here's a passage from Overturning the Tables, Chapter 6:

Just how important is our steady supply of fast food hamburgers? To meet global demand the industry has moved to large-scale factory farming. It is estimated that a third of the world’s grain harvest and 95 percent of the soybean crops are used to feed cattle. A further result of factory farming is the huge amount of methane, a destructive greenhouse gas that comes from so many cattle digesting so much feed.

Huge tracts of land in the South American rainforest have been cleared to raise beef cattle, most of which goes to restaurants and fast food chains in the north. Cattle, chickens, and pigs are fattened up with hormones to increase production of meat, eggs, and dairy, and these chemicals are destructive to the animals, environment, and to the humans who eat them. Factory farming means crowded unsanitary conditions, which require the use of antibiotics to prevent disease. This widespread use of drugs is creating antibiotic resistant diseases, which are compromising the health of animals and humans alike.

Today due to public pressure, many of the large food chains are responding with reforms to their food production, but worldwide the results of consumerism continue to be devastating.

For Study Groups

Discuss: Every day we choose whether and what to buy, and these casual decisions can have enormous consequences for ourselves and our world.

Read and Discuss:

Yann Arthus-Bertrand Earth from Above (Harry N. Abrams, 2002).

Watch and discuss:

Manufactured Landscapes (2006)
or The Price of Sugar

Ad Talk

2009-01-28T10:57:00.004-05:00

At one time the most famous quotes that people used were from the Bible or from famous authors or politicians. Nowadays the best known phrases are from advertising. The language of ads has become such a part of our lives because we hear them so often—up to 5000 messages a day! It’s no wonder we start to believe them as absolute truths and use them in our everyday language. The church in the photo is using an ad on its sign. Do you recognize it? Do they know that by using it they are sending a reinforcement to our brains that keeps us open to the wisdom of ads if not to the product itself. (It was an Alka-Seltzer ad by the way.)

What Can You Do?
Be aware of the language of ads that make us believe they are “profound.” When do they use pseudo-religious language? Where do you see advertising language reinforced in everyday speech unrelated to the ad? How often does the language of the advertising have little to do with the actual product?

Here’s a passage from Chapter 1 of Overturning the Tables:
Commercial speech—advertising—now makes up a great deal of what we share as a culture. Marketing expert, James Twitchell, says that in a society that is losing its sense of citizenship, community, and shared beliefs, branding becomes a way of holding us together. Through brands we belong to the tribe and acquire meaning. For example, we have no problem recognizing the familiar characters of Tony the Tiger, Mr. Clean, Ronald McDonald, Jolly Green Giant, and the Energizer Bunny. Most can relate to phrases like: You’ve Come a Long Way Baby, We Try Harder, or Just Do It. And no doubt you can complete the following: You’re in Good…; You Deserve a …; Plop, Plop. Fizz, Fizz. Oh what …; or Melt in your ….

Ads speak to values and conscience assuring us that we are worth it, that we need to be all we can be, and that it’s a good thing. The advertising process in general resembles a religious experience. Consumers, like religious seekers, are shown their shortcomings or sins, have an epiphany about what might be done, are granted a new start and new hope with a new product, and in the end everything works out heavenly.

For Study Groups:
* Spend a week clipping ads that are familiar. Make a bulletin board and see how many people can name the product.
* Collect ads that use language that has little to do with the product. What are they really selling us?
* If we are really exposed to 3-5000 ads a day where are they? Note where you see any kind of ad this week and report back. You may be surprised!

Fight Consumerism - YouTube

2009-01-19T19:04:00.004-05:00

Here's a short and edgy video clip about materialism.

For Study Groups
Use this as a discussion starter with young people to talk about consumerism.

Is this the lost generation?

2009-01-07T20:09:00.004-05:00

Watch this short 2 min. video for a young person's perspective.

For Study Groups
Read the last chapter of Overturning the Tables to learn more about what young people believe and do.

Kids Got the Gimmes?

2009-01-04T10:28:00.004-05:00

"How many times have you sworn off shopping with your kids because of the constant pleading, whining and negotiating for toys, snacks and other stuff?

If you're like me, probably more times than you can count. But experts say there are ways to rein in junior's materialism and derail the high-pitched wailing without making you look like the Grinch."

That quote is from a recent article on MSN Finance that gives strategies for not only defusing the gimmes but teaching children to be better consumers.

Read more from "Can You Cure Your Kids' Gimmes?"

What's just as important as readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic?

2008-12-29T21:54:00.007-05:00

Recyclin', of course.
That's a message from the blog Ideal Bite.

Teach littl'uns greener ways - just as important as the traditional fundamentals - with a regular trip to the recycling center. You can also get recycling tips for kids online.

Here's a bite from Overturning the Tables, Chapter 6:
The Whole Story
It is good to encourage and join our children as they collect bottles for recycling and it’s good to urge them to turn off unnecessary lights, but are we also making them aware of the full story. It’s not just about recycling, it’s about our demanding goods in the first place. Similarly, while we urge our children to support a local church food bank, are we also including lessons about why some have less than others—on social unfairness that is perpetuated by our spending habits?

For Study Groups
Many religious texts refer to God’s ownership of the earth:
The land is mine: with me you are but aliens and tenants (Leviticus 25:23).
Certainly the creation of the heavens and the earth is greater than the creation of people (Qur’an 40:57).
Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is Allah’s (Qur’an 2:284).

Discuss what it means to say we are tenants. How would we act differently if we believed that the earth was greater than humankind?

Has the Bling Lost its Lustre?

2008-12-20T14:07:00.005-05:00

A national paper reported on December 20, 2008 that the global credit crunch has put a serious dent in the culture of conspicuous consumption. "Luxury is out, said Tony Wong in the Toronto Star, "and parsimony is in." The number of billionaires is dropping, Wall Street and all its excesses have been so tainted fewer want to be seen as wealthy. The Luxury Institute in New York (yes there is such a thing)says luxury retailers will have to stop "slapping labels on products and jacking up the price. Even if you're rich you still will look for value"...but they assure us,"the market for luxury goods will survive simply because the human desire for having the best is innate."

Innate?
Perhaps another word for "desire for having the best" might be greed?
This statement from the Luxury Institute is just another marketing scheme to convince us to think "Me first at all costs."

From Overturning the Tables Chapter 6

When a small percentage of the population is consuming more than half the world’s products and five percent of the population uses up one-quarter of the fossil fuels, it is not about wealth, it is about global inequity. There is something drastically wrong with a world where we cannot find an extra $19 billion to eliminate world hunger; yet Americans spend $18 billion annually on makeup and $15 billion on perfume, and Canadians spend over $16 billion on beer and liquor and over $10 billion on books, music, and hobbies. There is something amiss when $10 billion could provide everyone with clean water, $5 billion would provide universal literacy, and $1.3 billion would immunize every child.

Today’s children have considerable wealth already and they are being instructed by advertising to spend relentlessly. Little is being done to encourage responsibility or restraint, and even less is being taught about where and how their purchases are made or grown, the source of the packaging, the costs of the transportation and how this all affects their environment.

Is luxury losing its lustre?

For Study Groups
Consider this quote:

We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.
Oscar Wilde

Make a list of the things you want and list of things you need. Discuss why we "need" them. If possible borrow the book "Material World" and compare what people own around the world.

Isn't It Time to Stop This? (notes from the news)

2008-11-29T11:45:00.009-05:00

A Black Friday ad from the U.S. popped up on my computer yesterday with the apocalyptic message: Final Hours! Sounded like a horror flick.

Today these were news items I read with my morning coffee:

* Canada is cracking down on a brand of cigarillos that taste like candy and look like a lip gloss tube. (Who says tobacco doesn't market to kids?)

* A gun fight broke out in a Toys R Us store on Black Friday. Some said it was over a toy; others that it was two gangs. (gangs shopping at Toys R Us? and who takes guns into a kids' store?)

* One dead and 4 injured in a surge at a Wal Mart as shoppers crashed open the doors to be first for the sales. (happened in the U.S but can Canada be far behind?)

A Consumer culture is not a force of nature. Consumerism is created by people and can be curbed by people. Is it time to take even small steps to do that?

Want to try something? Go one day without shopping or check out some cool web sites .

Overturn the Christmas Trend of Consumerism

2008-11-22T14:16:00.005-05:00

It’s time to make those Christmas lists. Do you remember as a kid pouring over the Sears catalogue and making a Santa list? Why not help your kids make lists this year, not of their own wishes, but of gifts for others?
Here are some Christmas ideas from Overturning the Tables.
With the emphasis turning every special day into a super shopping experience, parents should reevaluate the media messages and their family spending at holiday time. Learn about “Buy Nothing Christmas,” view the documentary What Would Jesus Buy?, and check out “Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping” (http://www.revbilly.com/). Here are more ideas for celebrating holidays and special days with less consumption:
· Give gifts of handmade articles, baked goods, or coupons for time and services.
· Give gifts to the church or favourite charities in honour of someone.
· Celebrate a green and sharing Christmas. Last year we tried to be as green as possible in our gift-giving. Gifts included clothing and bedding in natural fibres and chemically-free soaps and lotion; there were books on going green and eating locally and organically. Candy was organic, and we wrapped our gifts in used paper or the comic pages. Some gifts came in re-useable containers like baskets or tins; some were re-gifted or handmade. Some were donations to a charity and the church. Our four-year old grandson carried his gifts of dog food to the Humane Society and a toy which he selected to the fire hall.
· Continue the green theme into decorations as well. Check out non commercial decoration ideas and change to energy efficient lights.
· As one of the gifts each year for birthdays or Christmas, include a gift to your church or a charity. Clip a picture from relevant material and include it with a note telling the child what this gift will do. It’s good for children to learn that the best gifts can be those that offer satisfaction, virtue, and justice.
· Celebrate any holiday without plastic—credit cards that is. Spend only what you have budgeted for the occasion without resorting to credit card debit.
· For special holidays concentrate on making memories and celebrating traditions instead of shopping.
· Encourage your church or faith group to organize family events that can replace the commercial glitz. Participate with others in making it happen.
· Spend time each holiday season considering what you could scale down. Which activities are really important, which are more window dressing?
· Churches and religious organizations offer programs, calendars, or activities for each holiday season. Make a point of looking these over and customizing them for your family celebrations. They will offer lots of ideas to avoid the commercial trap.
· As a family, research and celebrate the meaning of the “holy day.”
· Holiday seasons are good times to teach values. What values are we teaching kids with over-the-top birthday celebrations and debt-inducing Christmas gluttony?
· Make one gift a year a gift of fun for the family to experience together.

Kids Pumping Iron

2008-11-18T22:25:00.001-05:00

An acquaintance was recently bemoaning the fact that in her small Newfoundland community she used to see lots of kids out playing. Today the streets are deserted. It’s not that the kids have all moved away. They are in their houses hunched over video games or staring at a computer screen. Many experts warn that our kids today are so unfit and unhealthy that they will in fact have a shorter life span than their parents.

Enter the commercial world of kids pumping iron. A decade ago this was unheard of. A generation ago kids played on the streets and in playgrounds, riding bikes, playing street hockey and soccer. A decade ago kids were off the streets and into programmed teams and indoor play businesses.

Today kids are looking at professional sports rather than fun. Parents sign up their kids pleased that their nine year olds are focused and that they lose all their baby fat. Part of the advertising focuses on the fact that weight training will help teens forgo that gangly stage. Heaven forbid that young teenagers look awkward.

Weight training and Wii. Is this what kids’ activity should be about? Or is this just another consumer bid for our kids and out money?

Today’s Temple

2008-10-26T15:35:00.004-04:00

▪ Shopping Malls are not just about purchasing needed items. They are about capturing your time, attention, and money. They mean to keep you there as long as possible.

*There are about 46,000 shopping malls in the U.S.

▪ The Mall of America has four miles of store fronts. More people visit it annually than visit the capitol, Mount Rushmore, and Disneyland put together.

▪ West Edmonton Mall is the largest shopping mall in North America and the third largest in the world. It has 800 stores and services and the world’s second largest parking lot with space for more than 20,000 vehicles. The mall receives 28.2 million visitors per year. Before 1998, the mall owned more submarines than the Canadian navy. The area of the mall is larger than Vatican City. www.westedmall.com/home/
Excerpt from Overturning the Tables

Consumerism Turns Religion On Its Head

2008-10-11T21:53:00.006-04:00

Consumerism determines what we believe, what we value, what we seek. Consumerism has become a religion.

Messages delivered by this new religion encourage greed and selfishness, attributes that are opposed by the world’s major faiths. It is impossible to buy into both consumerism and religious beliefs. Yet consumerism seems to be the world’s fastest growing religion.

Just like other religions, the consumer religion seeks to develop beliefs at a very young age. Its messages are more constant and repetitive than any other message children might hear. In 2007 the number of marketing messages per day soared to 5,000. The messages are tempting, and the effect is greatly underestimated.

Worried about the effect of TV advertising on your kids?

2008-08-26T17:32:00.007-04:00

You have good reason to be. Studies show that TV can cause obesity, dull creativity, promote inactivity, cause short attention spans, and expose kids to violence, sex, and addictive behaviours! Ads create needs for products by making kids feel unhappy, inadequate, and dissatisfied.

Want to do something about it?

If you can only do one thing, turn off the TV. We make the mistake of thinking that TV is about entertainment while in fact TV is about holding viewers’ attention long enough to sell something.

Let’s be realistic though, TV can be a wonderful tool for all kinds of reasons. So here are suggestions for better TV use:
Ø Remove the television from children’s bedrooms.
Ø Set guidelines and limits for watching TV and try to watch with them as often as possible.
Ø Ask kids what they have seen while watching TV alone and help them make sense of the advertising messages.
Ø Teach children to view the media and ads with a critical eye.
Ø Watch movies and shows together and make a game of finding product placement.
Ø Choose movies and TV shows together and include some with consumerism content: Ad Persuasion, Merchants of Cool, Manufactured Landscapes.
Excerpt from Overturning the Tables

Watered Down Truth

2008-08-23T21:19:00.012-04:00

Bottled water:

- Often is poorer quality than tap water

- Often is tap water

- Clogs up landfill sites with 24 billion plastic bottles a year

- Uses 47 million gallons of oil to make those bottles

- Comes from huge private water companies who are buying up water rights in many countries

- Means higher prices for bottled water while keeping it from the poor

-Contributes to the problem of 1.2 billion who lack access to clean drinking water

- Is a licence to print money!

Buy reuseable bottles and when possible refill them from your tap!

www.cbc.ca/news/background/consumers/bottled-water.html

Excerpt from Overturning the Tables

Back to School Ads

2008-08-23T21:13:00.007-04:00

Are we really buying the Stuff?
Are we really buying the Messages?

Recent "back to School" ads:

"Class of 09 savings" at Canada's Superstore: save on sugar coated cereal, wagon wheels, popcorn, variety pack of chocolate bars, chocolate syrup, and pudding cups. Just what back to school kids need!

Black's Camera advertising back to school specials--doesn't every kid need a $749 camera?

Chapters has "Green specials": dictionary and thesaurus on recycled paper. Wouldn't it be greener to use online references or, heaven forbid, use the books in the school library?

An electronic store suggests you buy to "Study and Buddy"; kids need to "Work Hard and Play Hard." Your "Back to school essentials" include a new laptop, internet radio, earphones, web cams, Dr. Seus Preschool Learning System, and remote controlled helicopters and tough terrain vehicles.

Canadian Tire suggests for campus living you'll need a microwave, George Foreman grill, and a 10-piece set of pots.

Buy 2 for one eyeglasses and win Cash for Class.

At Future Shop "get all you need to succeed." Let's all buy our way to an education.

Special bottled water in kid style bottles--ENOUGH with the bottled water!!

And of course no one should go back to school without their iPod nano that holds 1000 songs and thousands of photos.

http://www.marketingvox.com/back-to-school-spending-to-top-18-billion-031543/

Back to School Madness

2008-08-17T11:50:00.001-04:00

August and September are enormous spending months in Canada with billions of dollars spent to send children and adults back to school. (37% of Canadians spend on average $353. You do the math.)

Despite the fact that many complain about tough economic times, parents will be shelling out the bucks for school “essentials” and retailers are rubbing their hands in anticipation.

Some of that spending comes from young people’s own pockets. Stats Canada reports that Canadian teens rank first out of nine other countries in the amount of paid and unpaid work they do during the week. With school, homework, paid jobs, and chores, these teens averaged 7.5-hour days in 2005 and reported high levels of stress—the high cost of being in style.

What can you do to curb the excess with your kids? Discuss how marketing is duping them. Talk to them or research together online about where goods come from and what they cost in terms of unsafe working conditions, child labour, and poor wages.

If you are part of a church or community group, gather young people to protest this gluttony and to analyze the marketing hype. Create non-designer T’s’s with their own logos—I’m Good To Go, the anti-swoosh, I’m Not What I Wear. (Be sure the T’s are “green”.)

Create an alternate focus where they can more wisely use those back-to-school dollars—encourage them to intentionally give up some items to help others. For example, buy lunch pails or school supplies and take them to a local food bank, women’s shelter, or outreach program.

It’s never too young to start being a wise consumer. Back to School madness is a great time to begin.