| WASHINGTON
- June 14 - Children who watch less TV want fewer toys, reports a new study
published in the June issue of the Journal of Developmental and
Behavioral Pediatrics.
The study documented the effects of a school-based effort to reduce
television, video game and video tape use among third- and
fourth-graders upon those children's requests for toy purchases. It
found that by the end of the school year, among those students who
encouraged to watch less TV, "the odds of a child requesting a toy
purchase in the prior week was about 70% lower..."
The study concludes that "reducing television viewing is a promising
approach to reducing the influences of advertising on children's
behavior."
"If you want your kids to stop nagging you for toys, then put the TV set
in the closet or get rid of it altogether," said Gary Ruskin, executive
director of Commercial Alert. "The study just confirms what Economics
101 tells us: that advertising works, especially on vulnerable and
impressionable children."
"Kids are mimics. What they see on TV is what they want to have and
what they want to be," Ruskin said. "Advertisers know this. Programmers
know this. It's time for the politicians in our country to wake up to
it, and defend children from commercial manipulation."
The study notes that "On average, the number of commercials a child sees
has increased from 20,000 per year in the 1970s to about 40,000
commercials per year today."
The lead author of the study is Thomas N. Robinson M.D., M.P.H. of the
Stanford University School of Medicine. A PDF version of the study is
available at: <http://www.commercialalert.org/television/Toytv.pdf>.
Regarding toddlers, in 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics released
a statement on "Media Education" that "Pediatricians should urge parents
to avoid television viewing for children under the age of 2 years."
Ralph Nader founded Commercial Alert in 1998 to keep the commercial
culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting
children and subverting the higher values of family, community,
environmental integrity and democracy. For more information, see
Commercial Alert's website at <http://www.commercialalert.org>.
###
|
