Consuming Children - It's not about Cannibalism

I was completely shocked when we watched the movie Consuming Children earlier this week. I mean I always knew the media was a big part of our society but I didn't realize it was to this extent. I couldn't believe marketers would go as far as going after tiny children in order to "get them for life". The research methods that they use are crazy! MRIs, blinking tests, and even observing children in the shower! I get that children are a huge source of revenue but the marketers' studies makes it seem like they're curing cancer or atleast something so important that it will atleast benefit us. There was something else in the video that struck me: the use of brands on products like bed sheets, snacks, etc. The day we watched the movie I happened to have Scooby Doo fruit snacks in my back pack. No I don't watch Scooby Doo now, but I have loved these snacks since I was 5 or 6. This made me realize that this was probably the media at work; I never realized it before. As a child I'm sure I chose these snacks from the dozens of other fruit snacks because it contained the Scooby Doo brand. Who wants the fruit snacks shaped like fruit anyway? These were much cooler! Not only did the media persuade me to buy these particular snacks, they also got me from the cradle to (maybe) the grave or at least to my teens.