The Dinner Diaries by Betsy Block

Author:Betsy Block
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 2008-03-12T16:00:00+00:00

CONSUMING KIDS

Wanting to know more about how marketers work, I contact Susan Linn, EdD, the author of Consuming Kids and cofounder of the advocacy group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. As both a psychologist and a nationally known expert on marketing to children, she’s the perfect person to talk to; she’s even right here in Boston. We set up a time for an interview at her downtown office. Better still, Maya gets invited on a playdate that same afternoon, and Andy can take Zack to his office. Sometimes, the universe provides.

Except the universe must not be a mom, because It seemed to forget that while Maya has recently grown comfortable enough to do a drop-off playdate, she won’t actually let this other mom, Cathy, take her home from school. The night before the play-date, Maya tearfully reminds us of her need to be escorted to the friend’s house. So if I want her to be able to play with her friend, and if I don’t want to inconvenience everyone by canceling at the last minute, I will have to downgrade my meeting with this hero to a phone interview so I can pick Maya up and take her to this other family’s house, literally a two-minute walk from school.

It’s not ideal, but at least we’re all set — that is, until Cathy calls while the girls are at school to tell me her two-year-old has just thrown up. Playdate canceled. I make alternative child-care arrangements with Stacia; just as I get off the phone with her, Cathy calls again — her son is up and running around and he seems fine. It turns out that when she called the first time, she had been too embarrassed to tell me she’d fed him popcorn, which she couldn’t avoid because his big brother had a friend over, and we all know how these things go. Playdate back on. I get to school to undertake the elaborate handoff ritual; that’s when Maya says she’s willing to go home with Cathy after all. So off they all go, Maya and her little friend hand in hand. It’s lucky that I have a sense of humor. And a flexible job.

It’s all worth it in the end, though, because Susan and I finally get the chance to speak. She confirms what Andy and I already suspect: it’s not just us against our kids, it’s us against an entire industry of adults lined up behind our kids, whispering billions of dollars’ worth of sweet nothings in their ears. These marketers know that kids are perpetually hungry. They also know that children care about their snacks deeply and truly, because snacks aren’t just about taste; they’re also about image. Wear the wrong clothes, listen to the wrong music, eat the wrong food, and a kid can become the target of some unpleasant attention.

Susan says that companies actually team up with anthropologists and child psychologists “to exploit developmental vulnerabilities in children,” not just by employing bright colors and TV

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