Ok.. I am lost.. Who is that singing with Johnny?

“There must be some mistake,” I thought. “They’ve got me set up to receive a student loan.”

I didn’t want a student loan, you see. I was 25 by this time and, though I had only an Associate Degree, my mother and my work experience had taught me something about money and avoiding debt.

The previous semester I had availed myself of the work-study program, which meant I worked on campus while going to school. To me this was fantastic. I could “work off” my educational costs while in school and owe nothing in the end. I marched off to the Financial Aid Office to try and straighten things out.

There was no real problem, I soon learned. I could take either the sudent loan or the work-study program. I was surprised and expressed this to the nice lady in Financial Aid. She understood my dismay.

“There are so many students who are not thinking about tomorrow,” she said.

I agree that parents need to step it up. I also agree that parents have the overwhelmingly greater power over the minds of their children.

However, the marketing is pervasive. It is nearly impossible to keep it all out of your house. You cannot turn on the TV, or the radio. You cannot allow half the toys into the house. Clothing sold to children almost always comes with some form of advertisement on it.

There are grandparents who buy gifts for the kids. Those gifts come with advertisements. Every package these days (seems like), is counter advertising for another product. Oh, you have a baby doll, generic with no “branding”? Great! but now the baby clothes have Elmo on them, and pretend diapers advertise yet another THING to have.

Clothing and food should not, in my opinion, be cross marketed. When we are required to buy food for our children it is a shame to have to bring with it, advertisements. These things should have greater markets with NON ADVERSTISEMENT products.

Companies should create a line of product which does not advertise on it. little girl panties should not have to have Disney princesses on them. There should be plenty of options without it! There aren’t. The options without advertisements are few and far between.

What I am suggesting is that while parents play the main role, companies should work within ethical principles. Companies should be concerned with the state of the children they market to. It’s wrong that people would not buy products without marketing, people are going to buy for their kids. We don’t need to inundated with advertisements on the clothes and food.

Personally, I would buy my kid an Elmo doll, if they didn’t see Elmo all over the place. As it is, I keep all advertisement products OUT OF MY HOUSE. Companies could make it a bit easier. There is certainly a market out there of parents who want products without advertisement.

Mrs.MegLogan

As always, you do a great job of summarizing arguments and issues surrounding abortion. Keep writing these helpful posts on abortion and then turn them into a helpful booklet for the average Joe to use.