[quote]jthomas wrote:
okay, maybe i was wrong about ronald mcdonald holding a gun to someone’s head…that stupid clown is packing…who would’ve known… I knew i had coulrophobia for some reason
jt[/quote]
Main Entry: coulrophobia
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: an extreme fear of clowns
Etymology: Greek kolon or kolobathristes
I figured that’s what it was, but I HAD to look it up to be sure. <:-)
|/ 3Toes
so did I lol
jt
[quote]The3toedSloth wrote:
AB, I be really interested to see your research. Can you post it? Please?
Thanks.
|/ 3Toes
[/quote]
Hey there,
My research was actually about how Walt Disney Co. affects children’s diets. (By the way, Walt Disney Co. and McDonald’s had a ten-year close partnership, and McDonald’s also had a partnership with Burger King.) In the process I learned a bit about advertising geared at children. My paper was pretty long, so I’ll just post some key points:
-Disney joined with Burger King in 1991, positioning BK as “kid friendly.” That same year, the BK Kids Club emerged. Sales increased by 300%.
-BK also sponsored advertisments for Dinsey’s 20th anniversary on in-school “Channel One” programming.
-McDonald’s became the first corporate sponsor for Disney’s “Playhouse Disney,” a block of programs intended for pre-school aged childres. McDonald’s contributed a 15-second message at the beginning and end of each program and was able to buy advertising time for below-market rates.
-Kids spend 17% of their own money on food but influence 80% of families’ food budgets.
-Children always or frequently determine dinner grocery choices in one out of every three American families.
-Examples of children’s divisions within major marketing firms: Small Talk, Kid COnnection, Kid@Kid, Just Kids, Inc.
Examples of related publications: Youth Market Alert, Selling to Kids, Marketing to Kids Report. These publications keep marketers up-to-date with ad campaigns and research dealing with the child consumer.
-Children watch nearly 21 hours of television per week, and their programs are heavily-infused with commercials for food products. Astudy conducted in 2001 found that 272 food advertisements aired during a 40 hour period, and nearly half that aired during children’s programming featured cakes and candies. Saturday mornings, a typical time for children to watch television, had twice as many advertisments for unhealthy foods than during adult programming after 9:00pm.
-Incidentally, as advertising targeted at children has increased, the rates of childhood obesity have more than doubled. While many people blame the increase in obesity on inactivity via increased television and internet usage, researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation reviewd 40 published studies on childhood obesity and found stronger evidence pointed to the large amount of food advertisments that children see while watching tv or browsing the internet.
-Other studies (without going into detail) have shown that children will make food choices based on the advertisements they’ve seen.
[quote]Angelbutt wrote:
-Kids spend 17% of their own money on food but influence 80% of families’ food budgets.
-Children always or frequently determine dinner grocery choices in one out of every three American families.
-Children watch nearly 21 hours of television per week-Other studies (without going into detail) have shown that children will make food choices based on the advertisements they’ve seen.
[/quote]
Thanks. The parts that amaze me are that children could influence 80% of a family food budget. I buy my kid treats, but he knows they are treats. Hell, he’d never even heard of a freakin’ Ding Dong before, until I brought it up. ( Turns out, he likes Twinkies better, I think a paternity test is in order… ) How can a child make the parents buy anything? I mean, sure, if a kid won’t eat brocoli, maybe you can’t shove it down his throat. But, the kid doesn’t physically pick the shit off the shelf, take it to the cashier, and pay for it.
It doesn’t really surprise me that kids watch 21 hours of TV a week. It’s just too easy for parents to babysit with TV. I tried that with my boy when he was pretty small. I told him he could watch another show, when the one he was watching was over. When the first show was over, he turned the TV off, and said, ‘Mom says ONE TV show, then turn it off.’ He sure taught me something.
But again, your study goes on to say, that ‘children will make food choices based on the advertisements they’ve seen.’ Now that’s just crazy talk. Why are kids making food choices in the first place?
I tend to talk to my boy in a fairly mature manner. Except of course when we’re being boys… I explain things like ‘marketing’ to him, and how companies push crap on us, and try to make it look appealing. Like the shitty Hot Wheels sets that look so cool, but don’t perform at home, like they do on TV. I think he gets some of this. It pisses him off, but I think he gets it.
|/ 3Toes
McDonalds Sucks!
Did you fall asleep in thier bathroom for the last couple of years? You must have got the “McStomache Ache” and passed out.
[quote]horny yoda wrote:
McDonald’s ENTIRE BUSINESS is based on selling us something that LOOKS LIKE FOOD, it SMELLS LIKE FOOD, and it is SOLD AS FOOD.
But it ISN’T FOOD.
Do you see that this is fraud, by the very definition of the word?[/quote]
Good point. In their defense, however, it should be noted that very few restaurants place higher priority on nutrition than on taste and overall consumer appeal.
The typical Chinese takeout joint uses MSG to fool your tastebuds. McD’s just has greater resources with which to fool you (the chapter on the “flavor labs” in Fast Food Nation was particularly eye-opening).
The idea that all business practices are appropriate, no matter the social consequences, eventually has to be recognized for the lunacy that it is.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not sure I could agree to any particular rules or actions, except perhaps to regulate advertising to children, but man oh man, how would you define that?
Anyway, we can argue until the cows come home that people are completely responsible for their own welfare, but at the same time, taking advantage of peoples ignorance, to make profit at their expense in terms of health, gets a bit shady.
This is especially true with respect to targeting children, who are not very sophisticated, educated or generally capable of being overly responsible at that young age.
Eventually, we need some balance between the needs of society and needs of business. It seems that we all worship at the altar of profits these days… regardless of the impact on peoples lives.