Kids are taught at an early age that more is good. Kids want the latest toy, the cereal that tastes like crap because there is a decoder at the bottom that is useless. Kids are idiots who have parents with money and who are willing to spend it to shut Johnny's pie hole in the supermarket because he's throwing a temper tantrum!! Are kids better off emotionally, socially, and physically because of increased consumerism on their part. I say, maybe. Physically I do not believe they are better off. Junk food, laziness and sloth are destroying our children and making them a generation at risk of health diseases. Emotionally they are not progressing if they get what they want if they are not the one who is buying the product. If they earn what they are buying that is a different story. Socially, they are better off if they are following the fads. Increase in children spending has increased from $63 billion to $94 billion a year from 94 to 98. A study shows that kids care more about peer approval then health related risks regarding smoking and drinking. I find this to be true. You don't think long term when you"re a kid. You live in the now. That's why Camel cigarettes, which I stupidly smoke by the way, market their target audience to kids with their Joe Camel cartoon. The article talks about games and how they alter ones moods. They talk about hula-hoops, beanie babies, cabbage patch dolls, ninja turtles. Yes they altered my mood and I was glad of it. I had realities over for Easter. My first cousin once removed was playing action figures with me. He didn't know who Darth Vader was. I told him he once ruled the galaxy ya know. I understood though because he was four. I was talking to Amanda; one of my co-workers at Tony Roma's telling her that story. She said Darth Vader, I know this one, and he's a Power Ranger right. I wanted to disconnect my brain and un-plug myself. I grew up towards the later ages of Star Wars, the Return of the Jedi years.
You need only look at the newspaper, between the adverts and human interest stories is the tip of a titanic grade iceberg of human atrocities. ... You've read "No Logo" , abhor the idea that Nike pays their workers only $.87/hour, and are a strict vegetarian (though chickens okay) We are all whores idirectly it is the worlds oldest proffession after all. ...