Who's buying our children's childhood?

Do we agree? Research done for Mothers' Union has found that the majority of parents agree that media content and advertising seen by children can be harmful to them.

How much media do kids see? Does it surprise you that nearly 50% of 5 year olds have TV in their bedroom?

Physical health Children prefer the taste of food with popular cartoon characters on the packaging compared with the same food without the cartoons.” Yale University 2008 Government has stopped the use of licensed characters and celebrities in ads for unhealthy food and drink

Does packaging affect the brands of food consumed in your family? Do you think the brand makes a difference to your health?

For every additional hour of TV watched, a toddler will: - spend less time doing physical activity - spend less time doing activities involving physical effort - have a higher consumption of soft drinks and snacks => increase in body mass index (Pediatric Adolescent Medicine 2010) What do you do in front of the TV?

Mental health and wellbeing 1/10 kids suffer mental health disorders in UK with a link to high media use materialism and dissatisfaction poor self-esteem This appears to lead to higher levels of stress/anxiety lower self - satisfaction poorer relationships with others

Advertising Association say children are resilient to advertising Which products do you feel your children are being pressurised to buy, or own?

Values Children's values come from - parental role modelling - develop their own from wider society Purpose of marketing is to manufacture want Materialism can start to occur from age 7 – do you agree?

Life according to Disney: Stories with moral messages of good triumphing over evil Activities that are aimed at activating our greed What activities make your family happiest?

Understanding and development Modern media has wide range of educational use and opportunities. But research shows - 22% boys and 13% girls struggle with speech development because the TV is on - The more TV a toddler watches the poorer their academic measurements aged 10

What would happen in your household if the TV was turned off for an additional hour a day?

Relationships Who is this Chrysler advert aimed at? What does the Vauxhall advert suggest about relationships between adults and children?

“Pester power” stresses the parent/child relationship: “Parents consider that their authority and capacity to manage their children’s behaviour is compromised by children’s desires and increased expectations which they see as fuelled by marketing” Independent Report for Dept of Education In what ways do children's desires and expectations for goods and services affect relationships in your family?

80% of parents believe that films and video games with sexual or violent themes can be accessed too easily by children; 80% also believe that television, films, magazines and the internet make children sexually aware at a younger age than they would be otherwise.” ComRes for Mothers' Union Sexualisation

“The most common use of the internet for eight to 11 year olds in the UK is the playing of online games.” Independent Report for Home Office What subjects are appropriate for 8-11 year olds to play as online games?

What is the age difference between those who will play with Bratz dolls, and the children the dolls portray? Does it bother you? Why?

What's good about the influence of modern media on children? What concerns you most?

“Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” Proverbs 22:6 What does this proverb suggest that might be applied to how adults encourage children to respond to marketing?

In order to ensure that childhood is not treated as simply another marketing opportunity, Mothers' Union launched the Bye Buy Childhood Campaign

One of the aims of the campaign is to help families find ways of coping with the pressures of the media on families. What actions do we think we can take in our families to help us cope with the issues we've discussed? Unsubscribe

Challenge: - ourselves - marketeers and manufacturers - academics and local interest groups - regional and national government