God bless 'em, these parents are actually doing their kids a great service.
We used sarcasm to do the same thing. Whatever works.
(My kids are in their early adult years and make mocking remarks to just about every ad they see on the tube)

Madison Avenue is so full of shit.

We just got our 2 year old to fall in love with charlie chaplin...

My kid is 2.5 and we do without cable mostly because my and the lady cant stand commercials, and considering that out of what is available, so little is actually watchable, it made sense to d/l what we want or buy DVD's of favored TV programs. The same goes for the boy. Anything he shows an interest in, we'll D/L or buy DVD's. The result? We were traveling recently, stayed in a hotel, TV goes on, we find a program he likes, a commercial comes on, he complains. All good.
We fully intend like the mother in the article, to teach our boy the principals of critical thought, so he knows BS when it's served up for him, but by the time we're able to communicate that to him, commercials can do a lot of damage, so we avoid them as much as possible.

@Snarkysnake: But that's what makes Mad Men such a fascinating show! Plus the smoking and drinking and infidelity.

I've done the same thing with my kids - whenever an ad comes on for some toy (car tracks for some reason are popular targets of mine) I ask my kids if they think the toy is as fun to play with as the commercial makes it look. They understand now that the purpose of ads are to make whatever is being sold look so incredibly fun to play with that they must have it, and the reality of the toy or product is generally much less life enhancing than the advertisement makes it appear. As a result, my kids don't pester my wife and I for every product they see on TV any more.

Simply talking with your kids is a great thing, I wonder why more parents aren't doing this.

I think a good lesson would simply be to watch a fast food commercial, say for McDonald's, point out how good that Big Mac looks, then immediately take the kid to the nearest McDonald's and order a Big Mac and show it too the kid. Then throw out the burger. Point made.

I've helped to inoculate my kids by teaching them to use the 30-second skip button on the DVR. Huzzah technology!

@durkzilla: "I wonder why more parents aren't doing this."

My stepdaughter's mother actually considers it child abuse to not buy the kid EVERYTHING that's advertised, and we've been rebuked by the state-appointed attorney (basically makes all the decisions) for not letting her watch TV and not buying her enough market-driven toys. So...that may be a hint. Our society is so invested in advertising that its taboo to instill common sense into a kid.

@FilthyHarry: That's quite a good idea, except I couldn't deal with the waste of food, even if it is composed of corporate waste.

Just wait 'til they hit adolescence and you explain to them the meta-symbology of the Viagra trains-thru-tunnels, football-thru-tires and rockets-blasting-off clips. Giggles galore!

When I was younger, Consumer Reports had a kid's magazine called Zillions that did this sort of stuff -- picking commercials apart and doing Consumer Reports-esque tests on things that mattered to kids (ie. "Does Energizer keep on going and going and going, and how does this matter to your Game Boy's battery life?")

It's a shame Zillions crashed.

@SpiderJerusalem:

Yeah I did think about it. But then I had to ask myself if I can really consider it food, or if I'm doing a good deed by taking one of those things off the market :)

Either way, whether its used to teach a lesson or clog my fat arteries, it would be used.

When my brother and I were of the impressionable age, my parents got the both of us a subscription to "Zillions", the Consumer Reports magazine for kids.

It did wonders for making us both stingy and skeptical.

During the designated time the kids get to watch TV, I will mute the sound and ask "What are 'they' trying to sell you!" :insert product name: "Do 'you' need any! NO! WAY!"

that's awesome

@Trai_Dep: Will it even take that long? I'd imagine there have to be at least some little ones who ask mommy or daddy "Can you get me some Viagra?" after seeing the commercial

in Canada we had a show called Street Cents that aired commercial free on the CBC (government owned), it taught kids to be smart with money, to not trust advertising, etc, and had segments where kids could air out their "beef" with manufacturers as well as showcase kids that were entrepreneurs..ran from like 1990 till just about last year, quality programming at that age.

@canuckistani: They have episodes online, too, if anyone's interested in exposing their kids to it :) - [youtube.com]

I was in an enrichment program where watching streetcents was actually a part of the curriculum - we had to make our own ads, infomercials, discover how to market to people and what kind of outlandish claims worked, so that we'd recognise it when it happens to us. Now I irritate the bejeesus out of anyone and everyone around me whenever a TV runs a commercial, picking it apart.

For the last few years, whenever a McDonalds commercial comes on TV, I tell my kids that Ronald McDonald is a mean, evil clown who feeds bad food to kids to make them fat and sick.

Works like a charm.

The only downside is on road trips when we have no choice but to eat fast food, the kids don't want to go to "McYucky's" or "Stinky King"

well, i don't have kids, but thanks for bringing up pizza hut, jerk. i swear i've seen 100 stuffed crust pizza ads in the past week & i almost broke down last nite.

i don't even like pizza hut, but they make that cheese look so good...

guess my parents coulda used this advice.

@FilthyHarry: We do the same and have had much the same experience. I remember the first time our son saw a commercial. "Why did the movie stop!?" We are blissfully free of requests for the toy du jour. My favorite parenting moment was when our son, at four, asked us what the building under the golden arches was for.

We dissect everything advertising related. Since we see all marketing as essentially BS and point it out as such it seems to be rubbing off on our kids.

Our older one who is in high school is going through the state consumer math class this semester. They dissect everything from hidden bank fees to how credit cards and other financial traps get you. They also did a thing on health insurance and how to do your taxes. Every high school needs to make this a mandatory class.

@homerjay: that's not really inoculation - it's avoidance. it's still a good idea (similarly, my uncle always mutes the commercials, which helps to stifle their ability to grab your attention), but it's also a good idea to couple that with a set of reasoning skills for times when the 30-second skip isn't available.

Another Zillions reader here. Oh, sorely missed now that I'm a parent!

My son is allowed to watch PBS Kids programming without very direct supervision. Any commercial television has to be watched with mom or dad present. That gives us an opportunity to intercept and discuss the ads. There isn't much on commercial television we let him watch for content reasons. DVDs of your old favorite shows can be a good backup if you've got rainy days, a sick kid, etc.

We have the same rule for web sites, now that he's old enough to realize that there are billions out there. We've set up his profile so he can access pbskids.org. Any other site is blocked, until we view the site with him, discuss it, and add it to his profile.

Don't have any children yet, but I definitely will be using this tactic, and not just for advertising. Beginning reasonable discussion with your children at an early age promotes a feeling of respect as well as teaches them to think critically of all things that they hear. I hope to Inoculate my children against religion, advertising, anti-darwinism, even Santa Claus by teaching them to critically evaluate what they hear and read. I shouldn't have to just tell them these things aren't true, I desire that they ask so many questions that the answer is unreasonable to and come to the conclusion themselves. People think I'm crazy cause I don't want to teach my kid Santa is real, but I believe this promotes a thought process of accepting mythologies and accepting ridiculous answers (such as miracles/magic) to unlikely scenarios (how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?).

FUCK BARNEY!!!

I remember Zillions! I didn't realize that was gone. Zillions and Ranger Rick (anyone remember that? Kind of a junior - very junior - National Geographic) were my favorite magazines as a kid.

What this person did for their kids was what every parent should be teaching their children. I am an Advertising major and I think anyone involved in the field knows that he purpose of advertising is to sell a product. Most people probably do, but what you tell your kids is important. Of course most children won't be making their own purchases, so the real voice of choice is from parents.

I do think that trying to explain advertising to children who are too young (maybe below 6 or 7?) could be harmful to them. If a child still believes in Santa than do they really need to know how the business world functions?

@Trai_Dep: I'm hoping when you hit adolescence you'll figure out that, contrary to popular belief, not everything that isn't immediately obvious is, in fact, "meta", and that despite what Dan Brown might think there's no such thing as "symbology."

Its awesome that parents are starting to wisen up and do this. Also it seems that it takes very little effort (probably less so than buying the toy at the store and/or dealing with a screaming fit every time the kid doesn't get what they want when they want it), all you have to do is talk to the kids when the commercials come on, thats not much effort is it. You could even record the shows on a vhs tape if you still have a vcr (lol) and replay them to teach kids about the ads.

Streetsense was a really good show for teens and even adults, as it taught you about common products and compared them to see which ones were really worth buying. I live in the US but we get canadian TV so I was able to watch this program a few times.

@elisa: On the bright side, Ranger Rick is still around. I'm hoping it'll still be when my nephew is old enough to enjoy it like I did.

@durkzilla: Simply talking with your kids is a great thing, I wonder why more parents aren't doing this.

Talking to your kids is time-consuming and hard. Isn't there an easier way to inoculate them, say, with an injection or something? Why inoculate when you can vaccinate?

It is called parenting and discussing things with your kids. It will clearly come up that you don't buy everything you see advertised and they will want to know why. Another idea is called turning a TV off.

"No baby, clorox is too expensive. We buy the generic brand."

@SeraSera:
I remember Zillions! I was starting to think I had hallucinated it.

I wish there were more things like Zillions target to kids so that we could get back to buying things based on the quality of the product rather than the quality of the ads for it. My parents took the time to make sure I knew how to spot a good deal (or a bad one) and I think that more parents should do so.

Gave my son the party line around here when he was three and asked for some toy he saw on Nick Jr. Pretty soon he got good at reciting it:

Me: "Son, advertising is a ..."
Him: "Lie."
Me: "That companies tell in order to get you to..."
Him: "Buy things."

It works on everything but Lego Star Wars :D Curse you, Lego corp.!

@Trai_Dep: Meta-symbology? Around here we call that "dirty jokes."

@homerjay: "I've helped to inoculate my kids by teaching them to use the 30-second skip button on the DVR. Huzzah technology!"

Yabut..that's not a real solution. Advertisers are in all media and are targeting children in ways we can't fathom. They penetrate the market in very non-traditional ways. TV is Boomer advertising.

I may be the meanest mother in the world but one thing I have refused to do is buy a video game system for my younger children. Besides how violent the games are I just can't bring myself to spend that much on a "toy" for a child (on top of how expensive the video games, accessories, etc. are) when I would not spend that much on a "gadget" for myself. Especially when we have a PC the kids can play games on that have no violence and are educational. My two older girls could have cared less about stuff like that but my two older boys saved their own money and bought systems for themselves.

Another thing I refused to give into the advertising and peer pressure on is outrageously expensive shoes for the kids. When they need shoes we have a certain amount we will spend and if they wanted something more expensive they had to kick in the rest themselves.

They look at things a bit different when it is their own money they are spending.

@SkyeBlue: Switch "meanest" or "greatest" and then I'll agree with you. ;-)

I ended up impervious to advertisements and pretty much all sales tactics through a general distrust of everyone in the entire world.

It's not the sort of attitude I'd recommend encouraging in your children, though. The negatives outweigh the positives.

...Had I more coffee, I think I would have simply used, "allusions". *blush*

@SkyeBlue: Video games aren't expensive if you know how to shop for them, but yes they are very expensive if you must have the latest and greatest, and if you must have it now (prices drop fast though if you know how to shop!). Try buying a system from "last gen", like the Playstation 2. Target just had them on sale for 100$ and you can find plenty of 5-10$ games in the bargain bins, fleamarkets and on ebay. The games have ratings so weeding out the violent ones shouldn't be difficult. Also try buying a system bundle on ebay or craigslist and then giving it to them for Christmas (although you might want to purchase a couple months before Xmas because prices for video games skyrocket before Xmas on ebay). You could then give them the system and like 2 games for Xmas and then stash the rest of the games somewhere and use them for rewards and incentives throughout the whole year (the trick is also not to saturate them with 10 games at once.. then they get bored and you have to buy more games). There is even a library here that rents PS2 games for FREE, so you might want to look at your local libraries to see if they have that service. Also don't forget about interlibrary loans :) Most of the cost of accessories in retail stores is markup, I recommend checking out dealextreme.com for accessories, you will find they are the same quality and much, much cheaper.

The shoes didn't matter to me until high school (and I went to a catholic school so shoes were all we had that was different than our uniforms), at which point the kids should be able to save enough to buy their own shoes if they want expensive ones. If your looking for brand name shoes try hitting Marshalls or TJ Maxx, they have brand names for a lot less, the styles may be a year or so old but most of the time that doesn't matter unless you know your shoes by name.

It would be even more beneficial if parents would teach their kids to question the statements made by politicians and others who have an interest in manipulating public opinion.

@SkyeBlue: Oh look at that, you fell for media fud about video games. I mean, have you ever looked at the selection of games for gamecube or wii? The most violent one is like Road Rash or something. Please, go look at some game boxes before you decide how violent all games are nowadays :/

Yeah, I've probably pissed off my partner many, many times by talking back to the commercials, louder in front of the kids. But it's only by taking conscious control over the heavily-researched and financed brainwashing coming at us 24/7 that we can keep some level of intelligence and democracy in this world.

A healthy dose of skepticism and criticism when B.S. comes your way may not be "polite" but it's damn well needed - now more than ever.

One of my most favoritest [sic] lessons from elementary school was on marketing and the gimmicks ad men use. It stuck with me through to adulthood.