Sitting on the couch I notice how since having kids there is a lot more stuff in my house. Not just any old stuff, but the kind of stuff that has popular movie characters plastered all over it regardless of relevance to the product. It's not something that I really paid all that much attention to over the first couple of years, but 2 adorable girls later with only a small space it's something I can no longer ignore.
Cluttered Toy Room Source - Because I actually got my kid's toys cleaned up for once
When we see children with more toys than they'll ever need there's generally the assumption that it's because the child has requested all these things and comes from a family with enough money to spoil them with whatever they want. As I get further into this whole parenting business it's quite easy to see that this isn't always the case.
Companies will always strategically advertise their products in ways that will get children wanting them, but a lot of the time it looks like the real targets now are the parents. Most parents want to do the best that they can for their child, a fact that companies are really starting to tune into.
Recently while trawling through Facebook I see the usual posts from The Wiggles (because who doesn't love following a children's entertainment group on their personal Facebook pages right?). In addition to the regular concert posts was a post about a partnership between The Wiggles and a car seat manufacturer to raise awareness about safety standards in car seats for children.
Wiggles Infasecure Seat Source
In addition to discussing safety, another key aspect being advertised was the new "limited edition" Wiggles branded car seats being made, each one in one of the signature Wiggles colours. The combination of the push for children's safety and the child-friendly branding caused a frenzy. Pre-orders went nuts and stores sold out of them, particularly the blue and purple ones, within mere hours of being on sale.
Now when I look over the comments through Facebook over these chairs I see one thing in common with most of the posts about them. It's the parents who are desperate for these chairs, not the children. Some of the children are old enough to know the Wiggles, but younger children, particularly newborns, aren't going to know the difference between a Wiggles car seat and the exact same chair being sold in black before the Wiggles ones were announced.
It's something that seems to be more prevalent, or at least something that I'm noticing now that I'm a parent myself, is that this marketing is playing more on the insecurities of parents rather than the desires of the children. I know I'm certainly guilty of succumbing to this myself. It's the reason why my 4 year old daughter owns a doll of every single Disney princess they make. It's the reason why a large portion of my kid's clothing is some sort of Disney branded character.
The desire to give our kids what we feel they -should- have is strong. Unfortunately, due to marketing, clever branding, and our insecurities, the lines are somewhat blurred now between what they -should- have and what we -want- to give them.
Children end up with loads of things they don't need, and may not even play with. Parents end up with a house full of unnecessary items, or having to donate and sell lots of items that they could have just saved their hard-earned dollars on. At the end of the day the real winners are the companies that sell and market these items to us.
I've been trying to keep this in mind every time I go to the shops. While I believe I have improved, I know I'm far off overcoming it all. For now I'll end this by saying you really need to think about it before you decide to buy it, to make sure you really do need it, or feel your child would play with it, and benefit from it.
That all being said, I can't say I wont run into you in the Disney section at Target tomorrow....
