Commercials And The Youngest Among Us

I’ve often viewed commercials as a waste of money, as a way that advertisers remind us that their products are part of their world, almost as benign public service announcements. Now, of course, I realize my view as naïve totally inaccurate and I appreciate learning the tricks of the trade.

The earworm idea (discussed in Tim Faulkner’s piece) is totally brilliant. This is literally a sound link to our brains, targeting memories and other sensory connections with the advertised product. A strange phenomenon indeed, but its effectiveness is amazing. A friend of mind posted on Facebook that her six year old daughter was repeatedly singing the “Nationwide is on your side” jingle. Hmmm. Will this audio imprint stick with the young lady until she is buying her own insurance policies?

As I type this, I’m sitting next to my son, who is watching Saturday morning cartoons on the CW network. This is a new thing for us, as I’ve had him watch DVDs only until January of this year. He watches a little TV now, but with mommy at his side. In just one segment, we saw commercials for Fruit Loops, Chucky Cheese, Aliens in the Attic (movie), Nesquik, toontown.com, and the CW vault (a list of all of their kids’ shows),

I’ve interjected things as we watch, saying, “This is called an advertisement and they are trying to get you to buy their product,” or “This is not the show you were watching anymore, this is a break,” but my son doesn’t respond with anything. He is clearly mesmerized. And when the show comes back on, he says, “Hey mom, the show is starting,” and he doesn’t seem to recognize it as a continuation of the show he was watching, but a new show each time.

The impact of these well crafted ads and jingles has to vary, but I am inclined to think they impact the youngest (least educated) among us most. Awareness I can raise but what else can I do to minimize the earworms in my sweet little boy’s brain? Do they make him more American? Culturally connected? Or do they make him a target? A corporate controlled slave? I’m struggling with how to see this…