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Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers (part 3)
By Kimberly Bock | June 24, 2008
This is the third of the “Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers” series.
Part 1 - “Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers” - with Jonathon Colman of The Nature Conservancy
Part 2 - “Ethical Marketing From the Eyes of Ethical Marketers” - with Chris Baskind of Vida Verde Media
Today, we’re going to observe ethical marketing with the help of Lisa Ray, the mind behind “Parents For Ethical Marketing” (PEM). Parental perspectives with business savvy and a twist of lime.
Excerpt from PEM’s About Page:
Parents are ultimately responsible for raising healthy children. But corporate marketers would have us believe that combating their damaging commercial messages is exclusively our problem
Parents for Ethical Marketing thinks it’s about time that corporations take some of the responsibility.
Through parental awareness, public pressure, and legislative initiatives, Parents for Ethical Marketing encourages corporations to adopt responsible marketing standards and practices that sustain the health of children and families.
1. Who are you?
My name is Lisa Ray and I am the founder of Parents for Ethical Marketing (PEM). PEM serves as a collective effort to persuade corporations to think ethically when they market to children. I live in Minneapolis with my husband and our two girls, ages 6 and 11.
2. What do you do?
Most of my time is spent writing my blog, Corporate Babysitter, and reading up on the latest in advertising and marketing trends. I’m also in the process of obtaining non-profit status for PEM so that I can begin to seek funding to continue this work.
3. In your opinion, what is ethical marketing?
PEM has defined ethical marketing in three ways:
- Ethical marketing targets only consumers who can perceive and understand the persuasive tactics in commercials. Children cannot understand the difference between a television program and a commercial until they are about eight years old. Even older children do not know that advertisements are trying to persuade them to buy something.
- Ethical marketing promotes products that are not harmful to children. Lead paint on toys is an obvious hazard; less obvious is the sexualization of young girls which leads to depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem.
- Ethical marketing supports strong families by respecting parental authority in the parent-child relationship. For years, marketers have discussed the “nag factor” and how to get children to pester their parents for a product. Parents, especially fathers, are often portrayed as baffoons who cannot understand their child nor their child’s “needs.”
4. In your opinion, does unethical marketing affect us negatively? if so, how?
Yes. Indoctrinating children into a consumer culture is going to have a dramatic effect on how our society functions in the next generations. We already know that materialistic children are more depressed, more anxious, and have lower self-esteem than those who are not heavily involved in the consumer culture and that a child’s exposure to advertising is linked to family stress.
I’d also ask, What does it say about our society that we allow marketers to exploit the gaps in a child’s cognitive-behavioral development in order to make money? Will kids who don’t experience open, creative play because they were busy with video games and other scripted activities grow and develop in a healthy way?
What about a whole generation of girls who grow up not fitting into the stereotypical ideal of what a girl should be — pink, pretty, made up, and owning lots of accessories? Who will kids be able to trust if their school friends are inviting them over just to get their opinions on the hottest new products?
And our planet is not going to be able to handle all the plastic toys (and games and clothes and junk food containers tennis shoes and electronics) that corporations find oh-so-important to manufacture and sell. And credit card companies will just get richer and richer as we raise children who will incur more and more debt.
5. How important is ethical marketing to you?
It’s very important to me, as a parent, not to just sit by while multi-billion dollar corporations have their way with our kids and our culture in order to make a buck for shareholders. There are so many parents, grandparents, and caregivers who are sick of it. I’m hoping we can ban together and work with the corporations for the better.
-Lisa Ray
If you like what Lisa has to say and want to become more familiar with her work and / or friendship, she can be located in these places:
Parents for Ethical Marketing
Corporate Babysitter [blog]
Facebook (Lisa)
Facebook (PEM)
LinkedIn
* also new to Stumbleupon* Drop in and show her some good old fashioned SU love. 
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Topics: Ethical Marketing |
June 24th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
So as the parent of 2 girls and several boys, how do you go about making them out to not be consumed with material desires?
June 24th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Adam,
I think one of the best things you can do for your kids is to turn off the television and avoid shopping with them. I know that’s not easy and not always possible, but even a reduction may be helpful.
Another good step is to take every opportunity to let them know when someone is trying to sell them something. Point out product placement. Discuss commercials (do you really think that that toy can do what the commercial says it can do?). Show them how licensed characters appear at their eye-level practially everywhere and tell them why.
With my older child, I’ve found that discussing where things are made and who actually makes them has her checking out and questioning what she is buying. Kids also seem to understand overconsumption as it affects the plantet (show them some photos of landfills).
Books and other resources are available at my website: http://www.parentsforethicalmarketing.org/resources/
I’ll also put in a quick plug for my monthly newsletter. I try to have at least one parenting tip in each issue. Sign up here: http://www.parentsforethicalmarketing.org/join/
Thanks for asking!
Lisa @ Corporate Babysitters last blog post..At summer camp, girls learn to shop for self-confidence, excel at “posing”
June 24th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
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