Kidnapped: How Irresponsible Marketers Are Stealing the Minds of Your Children

By Daniel Acuff

Book Overview

According to a 2004 study by the American Psychological Association, USD12 billion is spent each year on advertising messages geared directly to children and teens. Is it ethical to market to kids?... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1419505033
• ISBN13: 9781419505034
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Kaplan Publishing
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.6" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

A Tool for Combating the Commercialization of Childhood

Virtually from birth, children are bombarded by manipulative advertising messages, in their home, at school, and on the street. Profit driven - direct target marketing to children has allowed ads to infiltrate almost all aspects of their everyday lives and existence. Marketers have invaded the realm of childhood spending enormous amounts of time and money conducting research on how to most effectively reach young audiences, unrelentingly exploiting our youth. In their book Kidnapped, authors Dan Acuff and Robert Reiher take a unique stance from within the industry questioning some of the manipulative practices that exploit the vulnerabilities of our children and hold accountable those irresponsible marketers whose profit-driven tactics harm the well being & future of our youth. Drs. Acuff & Reiher offer helpful tools for parents, family, & educators, to combat youth-marketing practices along with offering healthy alternatives towards limiting commercial exposure and marketing influences. However, parents alone cannot combat a multi-billion dollar industry vying for the pockets & brand loyalty of their children - but this book is evidence that from within the industry itself, the unethical practices are starting to come into question - which in turn leaves hope for change.

Help for Parents

Someone asked the bank robber, Willie Sutton, why he kept robbing banks. His famous reply was "because that's where the money is." In recent decades marketers have discovered that there is a tremendous amount of money in the child and youth market. Consequently the intensity and sophistication of marketing strategies targeting youth are growing all the time. Dan Acuff and Robert Reiher have amazing insights into this because it is the world they have lived in for many years. They combine expertise in developmental psychology with years of experience advising the top companies in the world to pull back the curtain and expose how irresponsible marketers manipulate kids to buy, buy, buy. But they don't just describe the problem. They provide solutions for parents and guidelines for responsible marketers. The result is a book that is an enjoyable read and loaded with great "insider" information. I would encourage all parents to read the book and would hope that some marketers would take the advice to heart.

Very Informative

Books on the welfare of our children are always of interest to me. Those who do not have a voice need others to care and to speak out for them. This is what our authors do in this outstanding work. What are they fighting for? The minds, the health, the spirit of our beloved children. They show numerous areas where our child are under assault by Marketers that single them out by way of TV, advertisements and peer pressure for the profit. They discuss the impact that violence has on our children through television and video games and give statistics that are alarming of suicide among our youth. In this work we are taught how to recognize these assaults and given guidelines that we can implement to safe-guard our children. I think what I liked about this book was that it was not a total bashing of producers of entertainment for our children, but a work that one: shows there is a problem, two: gives solutions for parents and marketers as well that will benefit all. A very informative and helpful book that would be a worthwhile read for all parents.

Dealing with unethical marketing to your children

There is no shortage of marketers using irresponsible and unethical techniques to make a buck off our children. These people and companies take advantage of the child's age and innocence to mold their minds. The problem is not only that this is unethical but that over time it creates permanent changes in the child and alters their personality as well as their health. The bottom line here is that marketers will always target our children as yet another tool to be used to sell product. As such it is the responsibility of the parents to control the factors that influence their children for good and bad. The authors separate the sections of the book to include what is appropriate for birth to age three, three to seven, eight to twelve, thirteen to fifteen, and sixteen to nineteen. For each of these age groups they cover developmental issues, areas to watch and areas where you can expand their exposure to the world and difficult issues. You may disagree, as I did, with some of the detail but overall it is an insightful and interesting read. Even if you don't agree with all of it you are sure to find the greatest part of Kidnapped highly informative and helpful for raising children. As such it is a recommended read.

ANSWERS AT LAST!

Is it possible we can rescue our children from mental and emotional corruption, as well as physical addiction and illness created by ignorant, profit-driven marketing? With KIDNAPPED, the answer is a resounding YES! In user-friendly style, Drs. Acuff and Reiher identify key threats to today's young people. More importantly, they provide pricelessly innovative solutions every parent and marketer can employ. Thankfully, there actually are ways marketers can make handsome profit while at the same time contributing to nurturing our children's mental and physical welfare. It's up to each of us to make sure this happens. Our future and the future of our children make KIDNAPPED a must read for everyone! Rama Fox, M.A.