article #5

How Disney Instills Greed and Consumerism in Babies as Young as Three Months Old

TruthOut.org / By Martha Sorren

http://www.alternet.org/media/152190/how_disney_instills_greed_and_consumerism_in_babies_as_young_as_three_months_old?page=2

        I read the article "How Disney instills greed and consumerism in babies as young as three months old" by Martha Sorren of TruthOut.org written august 26, 2011. In today's American culture the media has become a big part of the regular person’s everyday life, and the Disney channel is a huge part of the media. The Disney Company owns six motion picture studios, ABC television network and its 226 stations, multiple cable television networks, 227 radio stations, four music companies, three cruise lines, theatrical production companies, publishing houses, 15 magazine titles and five video game development studios. Most people don't realize how much Disney really has control over today's media, because this is not what most people think about when they think of Disney. They think of it as the episodes of Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck singing that they watched on TV when they were younger or the Little Mermaid or Cinderella and all the other princesses associated with Disney. The Disney Company really starts kids out on their products at a young age. Baby Einstein was actually produced as a way to get baby's to be hooked on TV earlier as well as their products, even as early as three months old. The company said they produced these products to entertain and educate the kids. The Disney company actually convinced many parents that if you let your child watch TV it will speed up there speech development, but in reality it actually puts them behind other children. Although parents don't want to believe it, a study done by the journal of Pediatrics confirmed that infants who watched an hour or more of television a day displayed slower language development. Even after this study was publicized a 2007 study still showed that 48 percent of parents thought these videos had a positive effect on young children. Disney doesn’t care about the kids. They only care that these are the consumers that don’t know why they want something, they just know they want it and that their parents will buy it for them if they scream and cry enough. This is what Disney is hoping will happen. "It doesn't matter whether the films are cute or the theme parks enjoyable - there is something bigger lying underneath this family-friendly exterior. Disney is, after all, a business. They want to make money." this is said by Giroux in his book The Mouse that Roared.

      I thought this was a very interesting article to read. I had no idea that the Disney Company owned that many things and had that much control over the media. It makes me wonder how much our opinions are swayed by the culture and the media because we don't know where the source is coming from. I remember when I was younger I watched shows like The Big Comfy Couch and Blue’s Clues and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Now younger and younger kids are watching shows that are not appropriate for their age and maturity level. I never watched shows like 16 and pregnant when I was little. I don't remember shows like that when I was younger. I watched Lizzie Maguire and I think that was the worst one I watched. I really don’t like that Disney lied to all those parents just make money. Of course parents are going to want to do anything that can help their child have a better life in the future. I don't think kids use their imagination as much as kids used to because why pretend a stick is a wand when you can just ask your parents to buy you a real looking one. I think that watching TV at such a young age can be damaging to a child. They don’t learn to use their social skills because all they do is sit in front of a TV. They don’t go out and play with other kids. Parents are using the TV as a babysitter for them instead of actually sitting down and reading a book with them. Reading to them furthers there language development even more than watching TV because they can see your face as you read and how your voice changes with enthusiasm.How i see it Disney is making life long customers and don't care about the affects they have on a child.