Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Ed.D.
Professor of Education, Lesley University

• A short history of marketing violence to children

When TV was deregulated in 1984, violence immediately became a major vehicle for marketing to children through linking violent cartoons to toys and other products.  From that time until now, both the quantity and the intensity of violent images children see on the screen has steadily increased and merchandising campaigns that sell violence to children have widened in scope.  Now, these campaigns include TV shows, toys, products, food, videos, video and computer games, Hollywood movies, and fast food chains--all of which act as advertisements for each other.  The cross marketing of a single violent theme greatly increases the negative impact of exposure to violence on children; the violent images seen repeatedly enter children's play, influence their behavior, and shape their social development.

• Unethical marketing practices

Corporations have continued to find new ways to expand the children's market by ignoring ethical standards, even those they themselves have put into place.  The Federal Trade Commission has shown how the movie industry routinely markets violent entertainment to children under the ages considered appropriate by the industry's own rating system.^.  One common way of doing this is to market violent toys linked to movies rated PG-13 or R to children as young as 4.  This was done with "Godzilla," "Tomb Raider," "Starship Troopers," "Small Soldiers," and "The Mummy," to mention only a few.  Toys linked to these movies are often linked to other media such as television shows and video games such as with the marketing campaigns that promote wrestling. 

• How children are affected  

These marketing practices draw children into a culture of violence from a young age and help lay the foundation for violent behavior in later life. Soon after the first days of deregulation, teachers began reporting increases in physical aggression in the classroom from children who were imitating  violence they had seen on the screen. 2   In 1999 in Texas, a 7-year old boy killed his 3-year old brother by mimicking a wrestling move he had watched on television.  Two years ago, six major medical groups reviewed hundreds of studies and issued a joint statement which concluded that media violence contributes to aggression and violence in children and can desensitize them to violence in real life.^.  Young children are especially vulnerable to the desensitizing effects of entertainment violence because they are excited by the action they see before they are able to understand its harmful effects.  Media violence affects children's behavior and play in the short term and harms their social and cognitive development over time, ultimately harming the health of society as a whole.