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Battling the Cult of Consumerism
Stuart Laidlaw
TheStar.com
December 1, 2008
With all the glittering decorations and tempting toy
commercials, children are especially vulnerable at this
time of the year to becoming selfish shopaholics if
parents don't step in, the author of a new book says.
"We're just drowning in it at this time of year," Julie
Kinkaid says. "And the values that are being encouraged
are totally the opposite of what a parent or a healthy
society would want."
Kinkaid, a former primary school teacher who now works
for the United Church of Canada as a fundraiser, is the
author of Overturning the Tables: Consumerism, Children,
and the Church.
She warns that the culture of consumerism can lead to
children growing up to be "selfish shopaholics" with
little impulse control.
"There's no blame here for parents; it's just too
overwhelming."
Kinkaid says companies marketing to children are
"creative geniuses," using state-of-the-art techniques
to sell their goods. They draw on the expertise of
medical anthropologists, teachers and child
psychologists to boost sales through advertising.
It can be tough for parents to compete, she says. That's
why her book, on the shelves today, offers strategies
for parents to counterbalance the effects of our
consumer culture.
There are simple things that can be done, such as
turning off the television from time to time to limit
exposure to commercials, or pointing out the product
placement in TV shows and movies to show children the
subtle and not-so-subtle marketing messages used to
manipulate their behaviour.
Parents can also encourage children to save or donate
parts of their allowance as a way to cut consumption and
encourage compassion, and the entire family can leave
the credit and debit cards at home when they go
shopping.
"Actually holding that cash in your hand, it makes a big
difference," Kinkaid says.
After being constantly bombarded by messages to buy more
and more things, children can find it difficult to show
restraint in any part of their lives, Kinkaid says.
As a result, she says, many problems facing society
today, and young people in particular, can be traced to
the consumer culture, including obesity, stress,
sexualization of children (especially girls encouraged
to dress like their older sisters), and addictions.
"We can't stop this thing dead, but we can all chip away
at it," she says.
Kinkaid is quick to point out that not all consumption
is bad. Everyone needs to shop, after all, to get the
things they need. She even says that accumulating a lot
of material things is not necessarily an indication that
a person is overly materialistic.
The key question, she says, is how much importance a
person places on getting more things.
"It is the belief we get from marketing's messages that
buying more and more stuff is necessary to fulfill all
our longings and desires." |
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