The Queen of Tarts is stealing their hearts (and minds)

Two weeks ago I joined a number of concerned parents, professional educators and psychologists at a seminar in Melbourne to discuss the usurpation of childhood by corporate marketing programs. Chairman Dr Glenn Cupit pointed out in his opening remarks that the penalty for selling to children in Hamurabi’s Babylon was death notwithstanding its image as a debauched and corrupt society. But much has changed since the Tower of Babel. We live in a world of convenience store porn, sexy young Disney mermaids, vampish princesses and “slut chic” - not to mention teen rockstar pregnancies.

The general feeling among the delegates was that the system is slack and under-regulated; that government’s of all persuasions have failed to take action and that things have clearly gone  too far. Children are no longer allowed to grow up but are being forced to confront a sexuality that is still several years in front of them.

The Seminar entitled “Children and Sexualised Media”, was cosponsored by Kids Free 2B Kids and the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM). Proceedings were launched by former Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, Alastair Nicholson who accused the Federal Government of failing to act on a Senate Enquiry into children released in 2008 which provided unequivocal guidelines on legislative requirements to protect children from ubiquitous soft porn images and inappropriate role models. Justice Nicholson maintained that as a result of the mixed messages being put out through the various media, children were becoming increasingly confused about what is appropriate behaviour (as are their parents).

Founder of Kids Need 2b Kids, entertainer and mum Julie Gale made no bones about her concern for the welfare of young children in general. To emphasise her point and to demonstrate she is no prude, Julie addressed us in  her “ Bunny Barbie” outfit. She spoke of the constant barrage of soft porn advertising and images she is forced to explain on in every shopping mall trip. As a result she has become an activist mum and her tenacity is starting to have an impact. For example, she became angry at the provocative images of young girls in a David Jones catalogue and after much obfuscation from all parties involved, eventually under freedom of information she obtained a copy of the advertising brief behind the DJ campaign to 10-12 year old girls. According to her, it was along the following lines:
“slightly sexy – looking down the barrel of the lens”. She got a result. That approach is no longer being used by that retailer.

Julie has also been on the warpath against tee shirt seller “Cotton On” who describe their product sported on the chests of 18 months infants as “edgy”, “irreverent” and “naughty”. But I wonder whether these “cool babes” will feel so cool when in ten years time they see a pic of themselves sporting the slogan ”Condom Broke”.

 The What’s New retail is apparently popular with kids although Julie was not sure how many children would grasp the significance of blow up granny dolls immediately adjacent to Wiggles mugs. Needless to say, after the Wiggles were informed of these cross selling opportunities, their product was withdrawn with in 24 hours.

Finally, teen star Lily Allen was mentioned as yet another unfortunate role model. Her songs may be catchy but the lyrics are not for 8 year olds. They are not even for 14 year olds. Julie’s point – if parents don’t wake up, they will find themselves down a marketing induced rabbit hole from which they can find no exit. And their children will be the losers.

And so it appears that at every turn there is a pelvic thrust or a Janet Jackson event in the wings waiting to happen and Julie has had it. The “Queen of Tarts” is stealing all the hearts (and minds). Julie Gale’s message – you must learn how to say “no” for both yours and your children’s sake.

Child psychologist, Rita Princi in her paper “Too sexy – too early discussed the impact of sexuality on the early stages of child development (she earmarks eight distinct stages) and describes this targeted attack as a frontal assault on child morality resulting in confusion and dysfunction. Princi argues this constant barrage about being sexy and being cool is “not ok” as children lack the tools to evaluate the messages they are getting from the endless pile of teen magazines and internet experiences. Moreover, according to persuasion specialist, Dr Cordelia Fine of Melbourne University, many of these messages are implicit in that they occur under the radar and are being absorbed subliminally. Fine demonstrated the power of what she terms “implicit marketing” in some revealing experiments on the impact of implicit imaging attached to two leading brands of cola and the resulting behaviour changes. The point is that even if children are able to process the conscious message, they are absorbing an entirely different message subliminally. When this messaging is attached to sexual images then the “take- out” to use advertising parlance is likely to be highly undesirable or what the advertisers and spin doctors call “edgy and irreverent”.

According to Princi, behind this emphasis on image i.e. the right body, hair, clothes etc is a eugenics theme i.e. the desire to breed a perfect race based on appearance and unquestioning preparedness to follow the corporate guidelines. We are talking about  obedient workers and obedient consumers. However, this emphasis on perfection means most children will miss out and will not be able to keep up not to mention cope. The outcomes are evident already in increasing obesity, diets at eight, binge eating and later binge drinking, lower self esteem and depression. Really not surprising is it? But BIG PHARMA can supply diet pills, diuretics and beta blockers to hold the depression at bay.

So what can parents do? They feel as though the system and the state have thrown them overboard and they are sinking. They are under increasing pressure to let their child do the things they know in their hearts are not right yet everyone else's kids seem to be doing it. They are constantly told that their kids need a friend not a parent yet the opposite is true. Parents are confused about their role. And they feel pressure not to say no according to Princi because other kids are allowed to do it but that is exactly what they must say.
 
Childhood is such a small part of our lives and it is being eroded faster than the ozone layer. Irrespective of the political persuasion of the delegates, the seminar was in agreement that it is time for parents to say “no more”. Give children back their childhood was the basic catch cry from this conference in Melbourne.

Next week  Part 2 - “Dirty Dancing, the darker side and a way back to childhood”

19 August 2009