Saturday, August 02, 2008 Sira-sira store: Kids in chocolate By Ober Khok
MY aunt told me to write something weighty and serious for a change.
“Tita Blitte, I’d do it for a cent even.”
My venerable aunt told me I wasn’t funny.
“Haven’t you heard about the news that children are the target of som advertisers?”
I told her that I’ve always known that we kids were the target of advertisers.
“You’re becoming less funny, Obz. Really, why don’t you write about that for your Saturday column.”
It’s not that I need the apron strings of my aunt to shield me from the harshness of reality or her prodding to write about something more substantial than idle comments about eggs and sweet potatoes. My aunt’s column idea was already boiling in my mind days ago.
The news on The Associated Press proves that the true dictator of the house is neither the husband nor the wife. It’s the kid.
Based on the news, I learned that marketing involves not only television ads. It includes “promotional displays at grocery stores and packaging that directs them to Web sites where they can play games, win prizes or send e-cards to a friend.”
Television advertisement today is a far cry from what it was in my aunt’s time. She said ads were so boring.
“Today, it’s like watching a mini-movie. The jingles are very catchy, too.”
A quick visit to some of Cebu City’s malls told me that the online newspaper was right about promos in grocery stores.
Cookies, pastries, candies and chocolates are displayed on the lower shelves. You notice that, true enough, the packages in which these consumer items come are colorful and geared toward the lust of the flesh and the eye.
It’s a big bucks investment that is sure to get a sumptuous return of investment. According to the news “the nation’s largest food and beverage companies spent about $1.6 billion in 2006 marketing their products to children, according to a Federal Trade Commission report.”
The news added that about “$200 million of that went to cross-promotional campaigns designed to provide children and teens with repeated product exposure across several venues.”
The trade commission noted that most of the products were wanting in nutrition and even recommended some things that can be done about it.
Schools should have meaningful nutrition standards for the food sold in their canteens. Companies that sell these foods are to “expand public-outreach efforts to educate children about the importance of healthy eating and exercise.”
There are some local products that promote healthy eating, like that food enhancer, which has a jingle about “makulay ang buhay, sa sinabawang gulay” (loosely translated as “life becomes colorful with vegetable soup”).
However, most products want the child in me to splurge on instant gratification. No wonder my money is gone before the next pay day. The ads are so effective in addressing the kid in me.
I can’t resist products that ooze with caramel appeal, saucy twist and chocolate oomph.
The problem now is for parents to exercise their senatorial power to thwart their children’s demand for more junk food on the table.
Parents have the veto power to stop their children from establishing new rules, like “soft drinks to go with the cereal,” “fatty meat garnished with only a spoonful of veggies” and “chips before six o’clock in the evening are OK.”
My aunt looked pleased as she watched over my shoulder to check if I was really writing a serious column. She left the room with a smile.
I smiled, too, as I took out the chocolate bunny from my computer drawer and nibbled its left ear first.
