Selected Book
Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture
- Paperback
- Author: Juliet B. Schor
- Publisher: Scribner
- Release Date: October 2005
- ISBN-10: 0684870568
- ISBN-13: 9780684870564
- List Price: $16.00
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryParents will be tempted to read Born to Buy as a kind of contemporary horror story, with ever more sophisticated marketing wunderkinds as Dr. Frankensteins and their children as the relentless monsters they create. Indeed, it's difficult to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the avariciousness, omnipotence, and ingenuity of the advertising industry Juliet B. Schor portrays when it comes to transforming preschool kids into voracious, 'tude-infused consumers. Intermixing research data with anecdotal illustrations, Schor chronicles the rapid development of a once-shackled industry that now markets R-rated movies to 9-year-olds. The mind boggles at the notion that Seventeen magazine's target readership is now pre-teens. While Schor unearths a surplus of information on the effectiveness of advertising, she's not nearly as adept at proposing effective responses. Reacting to the power and creativity of the consumer culture with politically unfeasible regulation and parental diligence is a little like attacking Frankenstein's creature with torches. Still, Born to Buy is an eye-opening account of an industry that is commercializing childhood with remarkable effectiveness and insouciance. --Steven Stolder |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
An inconvenient truth...
Rating:
Well researched and horrifying, it's all true. You may want to pick up a book on homeschooling your children along side this book, as you will undoubtably want to purchase one afterwards, and if you purchase both at once, you will qualify for free super savings shipping.
Very interesting
Rating: 
As a new parent this book opened by eyes to a lot of things I would never have recognized as "marketing" and would not have occurred to me how potentially harmful this culture is the psyche of a child. The data gets a little cumbersome at times, and I skimmed over some of the detail so that I didn't get bogged down in it, but lots of great information along the way.
Great analysis of a creepy industry
Rating:
Advertising is creepy, advertising to children even creepier. This is not news. But a detailed study of the overall effects is. The bulk of this book presents the results of in-depth study of the industry, both through statistical study of two sample groups of children, and through study of the work environments of the advertisers themselves, with interviews of marketers, parents, teachers, and kids. The author takes into account the history of moral panics, the party line of the industry that "kids are savvy," and the specific work that has been done around small aspects of this issue, such as fast food and violent video games (which I love). The author takes an unusually balanced, non-partisan view, sympathizing with the easily-vilified advertisers she worked closely with as well as kids and parents. Her policy recommendations are unlikely to be implemented, but her analysis of the issue is extremely sharp.
What Every Parent Needs to Know
Rating:
This is a book every parent (and teacher like myself)must read. It cuts to the heart of the exploitation of children that is tearing kids away from parents, family and culture. There is no way to protect children from the devious assault of advertising (you may be shocked at the tactics!) unless we are armed with the facts, and this book tells it like it is.
Solid argument against the commercially constructed childhood
Rating:
There's not doubt that corporations, advertisers and marketers do not have your child's best interest at heart. Schor provides a comprehensive account of the what, why and how marketers are targeting your children.
Reading "Born to Buy" will make you want to throw out the TV, disconnect from the Internet, run to the country and home-school your children. Simply put, there's no way to avoid marketing techniques, and your child will succumb to the corporate-commercially constructed childhood. With all the doom and gloom in this book, Schor offers little hope of avoidance...in the end, she does provide a few solutions.
All in all, "Born to Buy" was very informative and an easy, entertaining read. However, some of Schor's original research and statistics caused me to get bogged down. I wasn't looking for scholarly research and did not need to see these statistics. Additionally, Schor seemed to use this book as a chance to take shots at the Bush administration. Although I'm not a fan of this administration and some of the criticism is valid, I do not think Bush started this problem...he's just done nothing to fix it.
All in all, this is well worth the read, especially if you have small children...just skip over the stats near the end, and forgive Schor's attempts at making this political.
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