A note to Kerry Keating — there are GREAT kids’ magazines out there that will not bombard young folks with gross advertising. I enjoyed Cricket for many, many years, and then its “older sibling” Cicada for many more. No advertising whatsoever allowed in those, and they’re all literature.

Sorry for the long post. I don’t often comment here, just lurk quietly — but I felt the need to weigh in today!

One thing that can be very interesting to do with any kind of televised advertising aimed at children is to watch it with the sound turned off. The experience can often be disturbing and not that much different from watching World War II-era propaganda films. The first quote from the SI editor could have been spoken by any wartime propaganda department.

As an aside, this installment has finally gotten me to become a member of CSPI. They seem to be one of the few organizations able to sift and sort through all this and do so with great integrity.

Your response was dead-on, echoing Nancy Reagan’s timeless response, “Just say ‘No!’” that so many parents seem unable to grasp. Discipline is key to making good choices in life; and it demonstrates and teaches character. Isn’t that what we want to pass along to our children, along with a long, healthy life? And isn’t that what the food discussion is all about?

Sadly, it’s not just kids who are being bombarded. It’s adults too.

I work on a large university campus and yesterday a colleague from another department suggested that our campus budget woes could be easily solved by placing advertisements (like billboards) on our various departmental buildings. Each department could be “sponsored” by a company, so that like in sports, the building would carry the name of the company (e.g. The Coca Cola Economics Building). At first I thought he was joking, but then I realized that he finds this a very viable and unobjectionable option.

I, on the other hand, was horrified. While companies already seek brand loyalty for life through children, I was horrified to think of the possibility of also roping young adults in at a time when they have just inherited the most freedom of choice they have ever had. I could just imagine after a childhood of being bombarded with marketing that advertising all over a college campus would “seal the deal” in terms of creating life-time consumers. Young adults who grew up with ability to consume foods and drinks that do not meet nutritional standards would continue to do so, and perhaps others that had been “forbidden” by parents as children, would start to do so in the freedom of college.

Today’s young people really don’t stand a chance when people like my colleague, whose primary job responsibility is to look out for the welfare of young adults (academically, emotionally, physically, etc.) would come up with an idea that is directly in conflict with that mission. Unfortunately the world revolves around money, and obtaining it seems to make even the best of intentions turn destructive. Though, this is not necessarily as egregious as the statements from Dr. Nestle’s post today, I am still deeply disturbed that our society intentionally and unintentionally holds these attitudes about marketing…