The Sesame Street characters are on a mission to get children to eat healthy by allowing fruit and vegetable producers to use its characters on their packaging and marketing materials. The campaign intends to tackle childhood obesity by using the same marketing tactics employed by the junk food industry. While increasing children's understandings of good eating habits are important, the question being raised is whether it is ever okay to target children in a marketing campaign.
I personally have mixed feelings with regards to marketing anything to children. It has been known that children a unable to tell the difference and distinguish between marketing and entertainment. Therefore, marketing to children crosses an ethical line. However, it can be argued that in the 21st century where children live in a marketing environment, using Sesame Street to market healthy food is better than exposing them to bad marketing.
While this campaign has good intentions, it also reinforces the idea that children are only suppose to eat foods that come with cartoons or toys. This may help young children have a balanced diet, but it does not assure parents and the society that children will continue eating healthy food when they grow up and no longer like these cartoon characters. Therefore, I feel that marketing good products to children is a good step forward from marketing bad products. But in order to for the children retain the values that are being taught, they need to be educated, and marketing is not education.
It's great when you admit you have a mixed feeling about this problem. I am confused too. However, I think that in order to have a big change, we need to change gradually for people to adjust. Marketing is not education, but it can be one way to educate children. Children, unlike adults, cannot be approached by informative lectures. They need to play and to have fun. Aren't primary teachers using toys to teach children Mathematics, Science and so on? Therefore, I think a good purpose is a good start and it's ok to use advertising as a method for now.
ReplyDeleteI agree that marketing is not an education, but at least the company is making positive strides in endorsing healthy eating habits in children. Although it is done through cartoons, it can comfort parents for they know that healthy eating is now appealing to their children. It's sad though that getting children to make smart decisions has to be done through advertisements such as this one.
ReplyDeleteYour last sentences is especially right! Shouldn´t the parents be the educator and not the marketer? A marketer who probably did not even have the healthy diet, but the selling numbers of the product in mind.
DeleteYes I agree. At least for now, the Sesame Street characters do raise the awareness of both parents and children and tell kids to eat healthy food. And I have to admit that, the cartoon characters might be one of the best ways to capture children's attention since they are so young and can easily get bored. But as you say, marketing is not education. So I think what people have to do is to figure out a better education method to decrease childhood obesity rate.
ReplyDelete(I apologize for the tone of this post because I had to rewrite this like 10 times due to stupid computer issues)
ReplyDeleteThis past summer, I watched a documentary called Fed Up. I recommend watching this documentary if you're interested in how much crap is placed in the food on our plates... even the fresh fruits and vegetables.
In regards to the Sesame Street campaign, I agree that marketing is not educating. However, I don't think children are the only targets of this campaign. Children are the innocent 'victims' of our food industry and isn't our justice system supposed to defend the innocent and protect the victims? Rather than targeting children, I think the people behind the campaign (and the documentary) want to bring awareness to parents, government, and other authority in order to change what we feed our children and ourselves.
Carissa, I very much like your point on how this campaign only has short term intentions, since it does not change the wish of children to eat healthy in the long run. Of course it is a great use of cartoons/children´s characters, but it is still influencing children who can not tell the impact of this commercial. Children should in my opinion not be the target of marketers, even though this campaign has a good goal.
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