Originally posted by tothetenthpower
If I might ask, which generation do you speak of?
Gen-X. Stereo-types aside, Gen-X are the kids that never grew up.
Parenting for us is almost like a cross between therapy, being able to undo our
own childhood and rewrite it the way we always wished it could have been, and getting a second chance at being a kid and having an excuse to do such
without feeling like we are being judged by society. My parents were Baby-Boomers, and their parents were of the Silent Generation.
However, that's another thing I was thinking about. Gen-Xers have been inundated with advertising since birth, more so than any other generation. Marketers consider them an anomaly because they have always been immune to traditional advertising. That is where Viral Marketing came from, as it was an attempt to target Gen-Xers who developed a natural immunity to advertising from over-exposure to it. Viral Marketing worked the first two times, but ultimately proved to be as ineffectual over the long run.
We tend to worry about the prevalence of Advertising and Subliminal Advertising on our children, but speaking from experience, I'm not too worried about it because I know with over-exposure comes immunity. I might remember all the Advertising Jingles by heart, and sing them in the shower, but they don't influence my decisions, and never have. I want what I want and I buy what I buy without exception. The food I buy is generally Organic despite those catchy jingles from Kraft. The clothes I buy may be Armani and Calvin Klein but only because I got them on clearance at a Thrift Store. The Toilet Paper I buy is whatever is the cheapest that month not because it's Charmin Soft. Honestly I don't need Fabric Softener even though that Bear is so darn cute!
You can't shelter your kids from Advertising. It is on every website they visit, every TV Show and Movie they watch, and on every Billboard you pass, and even in School Textbooks! If you try to shelter them from it, it will have more of an effect on them. If you just let them be over-inundated with it, and explain to them when you are at the store why you don't need Armour Hot-Dogs or a Hello Kitty Purse, they'll learn to be as resilient to advertising as Gen-Xers were...even if we do live by the Toys 'R Us Slogan as the model of our lives ("I don't want to grow up...I'm a Toys 'R Us kid").
