Catching up...

I mentioned a few posts back about going to an amazing yet frightening talk by Susan Linn. So here's the scoop:

She's the the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which works to remove marketing influences in children's lives -- on TV, on foods, on toys, etc. She spoke at Q's school about the ubiquity of multiple kinds of marketing, most of which is more potent than mere commercials (I know it's time to run and hide when commercials sound mundane). There's viral marketing, most often used on social networking sites -- adds are wittingly or unwittingly passed, literally like a virus, to one's social network. Scary, but I'd expect that of web-based stuff.

More scary to me was the way she spoke of marketing to babies. Beyond new 24-hour baby-focused TV stations (which makes me want to hurl), there's the idea that a baby's room, clothes, accessories, etc are all branded. A Disney princess room becomes equated with parental love for the young child sleeping in it. Which then spirals into an attachment to Disney princesses, not because a child loves them per se, but because they represent the love, comfort, care, and security felt in a room filled with that image. And thus babies becoming a marketing target. A stealth target, but such an innocent and vulnerable target.

Nothing that Linn spoke of was mind-blowing, but it was disgusting nonetheless.

I did leave thankful for the rather simple life we have, for the simplicity of Q's playthings, for his ability to really imagine. It also caused me, though, to take a good look around at how contaminated our lives are with marketing efforts and to think about how to protect our young ones (not just mine, but everyone's) from those seemingly benign, but ultimately so powerful messages.

I'd love to hear folks' ideas on fighting the commercialism bug beyond the four walls of your house. Or even just within your home. What strategies do you use?