"We act like a friend to our fans," she says. "And friends don't only talk to you between nine and five. And friends don't use a corporate tone of voice when they talk to you. So they actually do think they're speaking to their friend. And that's really an incredible opportunity for marketers."
Part of the ABC Family story on NPR centered around the show Pretty Little Liars which is aimed at females aged 12-34. Many of them in our classes. That really struck me. The idea that teams of people devoted to marketing a TV show are out there "acting" like friends to our students is disturbing. There is an enormous marketing machine operating 24/7 on information about our kids. I believe its goal is not only to change their purchasing habits, but also to change who our kids are fundamentally. The marketing machine wants to create good consumers, not necessarily good citizens.
I am a child of the 70's and spent A LOT of time parked in front of the TV (I know, shocking - a tech guy who didn't get out much as a child) and ingested a massive amount of kid-centric marketing. However, I was never under the impression that I could build a relationship with characters on a TV show.
Well, there was that one time I thought I would marry Josie,
from TV's Josie and the Pussycats, but I was like, five.
The point is that kids today are at an unfair advantage. Media marketers are using our kids' desire for relationship to manipulate them, but who is explaining this to the kids? We focus so much on internet safety, but with the sheer volume and complexity of media messages kids are dealing with these days, I really believe we have to beyond safety and teach them how to manage media. How does your school or district handle this? Is there a media literacy program in place?
