Your Kids For Sale
Most parents won't be shocked to learn that children are a lucrative market for corporate America, which spends $15 billion a year to reach them with marketing and advertising.
The surprise is that it starts so early — and that so much explicit detail is available about children before they're even out of diapers.
Advertising aimed at children exploits their vulnerabilities and seeks to turn them into lifelong customers, privacy advocates say. Overexposure to advertising and marketing is blamed as a factor in eating disorders, irresponsible sexuality, materialism and more.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, co-sponsored the Children's Listbroker Privacy Act, which would prohibit buying and selling personal information about children under age 16 unless a parent consents (or if the purpose is noncommercial, as in distributing information about scholarships). The bill is slated for a hearing in the fall.
The surprise is that it starts so early — and that so much explicit detail is available about children before they're even out of diapers.
Advertising aimed at children exploits their vulnerabilities and seeks to turn them into lifelong customers, privacy advocates say. Overexposure to advertising and marketing is blamed as a factor in eating disorders, irresponsible sexuality, materialism and more.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, co-sponsored the Children's Listbroker Privacy Act, which would prohibit buying and selling personal information about children under age 16 unless a parent consents (or if the purpose is noncommercial, as in distributing information about scholarships). The bill is slated for a hearing in the fall.
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