One of the most pervasive cultural trends of our particular era is the spread of consumerism to children, including very small children. And it's not an accident.

Sophisticated marketing techniques combined with multi-media technology have enabled a wide variety of companies to directly target kids in ways that parents often don't know about and are hard-pressed to control. And the dual object of this effort is to siphon up the more than $200 billion a year directly spent by minors, while creating lifelong customers with highly developed consumer habits.

In an important new report from the Progressive Policy Institute, Michele Stockwell, PPI's director of social and family policy, argues that parents, while remaining the first line of defense, need help protecting their kids from commercializing pressures and outlines a series of modest steps policymakers can take to address some of the more egregious marketing practices without unduly intervening in the market economy. (An abbreviated version of Stockwell's report is available in the current issue of Blueprint magazine).

Stockwell examines the current universe of marketing practices, and concludes:

There has long been advertising aimed at children, but the scale and sophistication of today's marketing campaigns go far beyond traditional television ads, commercializing childhood to an unprecedented degree. Techniques in the modern repertoire include invasive "viral marketing" campaigns that surreptitiously turn children's friendships into word-of-mouth networks for spreading enthusiasm about new products; covert sociological research into children's habits and preferences; and gimmicks such as hybridized "advergames" that disguise brand-building and consumer product research as slick entertainment. Their cumulative effect is a never-ending come-on, in which there are innumerable images and messages not appropriate for children, especially young ones.

Does this matter? Most parents would say it does, and Stockwell offers some specifics. "As tens of thousands of those flickering images melt together into a constant, nagging whisper in children's ears, specific harmful effects can run the gamut from increased parent-child conflicts to strained family budgets, distorted value systems, and both physical and emotional health problems." Moreover, part of the commercial bombardment aimed at kids involves products -- including alcohol and tobacco--and content -- such as hyper-violent and sexual images -- supposedly reserved for adults.

Fortunately, says Stockwell, there are a variety of specific public policies available to Congress and (with the right authority) federal agencies that could help reverse the trend towards the commercialization of childhood:

• Restoring the Federal Trade Commission's authority (taken away by Congress in 1980) to regulate unfair advertising to children. Congress should also direct the FTC to investigate the full range of marketing practices aimed at children and promulgate common-sense measures to shield kids.
• Requiring full disclosure of corporate marketing practices involving the advertising of adult entertainment and products in media poplar with youth, and the hiring of children to pitch products to their peers.
• Restricting inappropriate commercial activities in public schools though a set of voluntary guidelines for states, with special attention to elementary schools.
• Demanding that the marketing industry establish clear standards, such as those currently applied to federally funded researchers, for the involvement of children in product research in order to protect children's welfare.
• Strengthening safeguards against the use of children's personal information for commercial purposes, especially in the interactive marketplace.
• Providing more safe media options for children by striking a new bargain with broadcasters to provide more programming for children and making it commercial-free content for children; and asking cable and satellite providers to offer family-friendly program packages.

All of these measures are aimed simply at adjusting public policies to reflect rapid changes in technology and marketing techniques and giving parents the tools they need to effectively control and counter the harms associated with hyper-commercialization. "A highly developed market economy needs advertising," concludes Stockwell. "But policymakers can help parents shield their children from some of the culture's corrosive influences by demanding more responsible and age-appropriate marketing that does not exploit children's psychological and cognitive weak spots or push them too quickly into adulthood."