The commercial generation?

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has opened a new consultation 'Assessing the Impact of the Commercial World on Children's Wellbeing - A Call for Evidence'. The DCSF states that "Some evidence suggests that the combination of a lowering in the age at which children begin to engage with the commercial world, along with an increase in the quantity of commercial messages targeted at children, may have some outcomes which are detrimental for children's wellbeing".

However, the DCSF states, the "evidence is not clear. In particular, there is a gap in understanding properly the impact that cumulative exposure to shopping, advertising and commercial messaging may have on children’s wellbeing". And so it needs your help, and by 30th June.

The Advertising Standards Agency states that common issues surrounding children and advertising are:

• Making children desire things they cannot afford or would not be able to use
• Pester power: encouraging children to pester their parents for advertised products or services.
• Showing children in unsafe or dangerous situations that other kids might emulate.
• Making children feel inferior, especially if they don’t buy the products or services shown in the ads.
• Showing children in a sexual way. I.e. wearing make-up and glamorous clothes
• Advertising soft drinks & high fat / sugar foods to children

There is plenty of evidence available that an impact is being had. The Children’s Society has conducted a 'Good Childhood Inquiry' which looks at the impact of a commercial world on children including that "Nine in ten agreed with the statement that 'children nowadays are more materialistic than past generations'" – Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Inquiry and the same proportion that "advertising to children at Christmas puts pressure on parents to spend more than they can really afford". The Inquiry also asks about video games, junk food advertising and other impacts of commercialism on children.

A more materialistic society and commercialised world also has consequences as social relationships are reduced to economic ones, and children compete rather than co-operate and share. Last year a UNICEF study put the UK, along with the US, at the bottom ranking on children's well-being. Among its findings was that "the percentage of children who report that their peers are 'kind and helpful' varies from a high of 80 percent or more in Switzerland and Portugal to less than 50 percent in the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom".

In early June it was reported that for the second year running, the number of children living in poverty has increased. As Barnardo's states, "a third of children in poverty in the UK go without meals, or toys, or clothes that they need".

Details of the consultation 'Assessing the Impact of the Commercial World on Children's Wellbeing - A Call for Evidence' can be downloaded from the DCSF website, and the deadline for responses is 30th June. There is a version of the consultation for children, parents and for interested parties.