How corporations sell stuff to your kids | Ashleigh Clyde | TEDxWarrenton
Summary
TLDRThe video script delves into the unsettling truths behind seemingly innocent childhood films, using 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' as a case study to explore the darker themes present. It argues that these narratives reflect and influence real-world issues, particularly the exploitation of children through corporate marketing strategies. The script highlights how companies target young minds to establish brand loyalty and shape consumer preferences, often with a focus on vulnerable demographics. It also touches on the impact of commercialism in education and the importance of addressing these issues to foster a more equitable and constructive environment. The summary concludes with a call to action, emphasizing the need to protect children from corporate agendas and empower them as future leaders who can challenge the status quo.
Takeaways
- 😮 Childhood movies, when analyzed critically, reveal dark and potentially disturbing themes hidden beneath their innocent facade.
- 🍫 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' serves as a focal point for exploring the insidious tactics of corporations in targeting children.
- 💰 Corporations spend billions on advertising to children, recognizing them as influential consumers and aiming to establish brand loyalty from a young age.
- 📚 Commercialism extends beyond products to shaping mindsets and ideologies, infiltrating education and subtly influencing children's perspectives.
- 🌍 Disparities exist in the marketing strategies employed by corporations, with minority children being disproportionately targeted and influenced.
- 👦🏽👧🏼 Children represent the future, and corporations seek to mold them into loyal consumers, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding childhood innocence.
- ❗️ The script highlights the ethical implications of corporate influence on education and societal norms, urging action to protect children from exploitation.
- 🔍 Analyzing media, like 'Willy Wonka,' unveils underlying themes and messages that reflect societal dynamics and power structures.
- 👥 Collaboration among parents, educators, policymakers, and advocates is essential to counteract the negative impact of corporate agendas on childhood development.
- 🔒 Safeguarding the purity of childhood and fostering critical thinking skills in children are crucial to resisting corporate manipulation and promoting a healthier society.
Q & A
What is the unique perspective the speaker had on movies from an early age?
-The speaker had a more critical perspective on movies compared to their peers, not understanding the whimsical appeal of childhood classics and viewing them through a different lens.
At what age did the speaker become an entertainment reporter and film journalist?
-The speaker became an entertainment reporter and film journalist at the age of 16.
What common theme does the speaker identify in many childhood films?
-The speaker identifies murder as a common theme in many childhood films.
What is the chilling truth the speaker uncovered about childhood films?
-The chilling truth is that many childhood films contain horrifying elements, such as attempted murder and inappropriate relationships.
What is the significance of the phrase 'based on a true story' in the context of the speaker's analysis?
-The phrase 'based on a true story' signifies that the horror in the movie is more terrifying because it reflects real-world events and experiences.
How does the speaker relate the tactics of Willy Wonka to real-world corporate strategies?
-The speaker relates Willy Wonka's tactics of luring children to his factory to child-based marketing strategies used by corporations to exploit children's vulnerability.
What is the business strategy behind corporations spending billions on advertising to children?
-The strategy is called childhood commercialism, where corporations target children because they influence their parents' buying decisions and are likely to develop brand loyalty.
What is the role of brand identification in child-based marketing?
-Brand identification is crucial as it creates a strong connection between children and a brand, which can lead to long-term loyalty and continued use of the product.
How does commercialism infiltrate the educational system according to Dr. Alex Molar?
-Commercialism has become part of the curriculum, with corporations recognizing the malleability of young minds and shaping their preferences and ideologies through narratives.
What is the difference between 'Bill Nye the Science Guy' and 'Lab Time with Leo' in terms of their messages?
-While Bill Nye teaches about the importance of understanding global warming and climate change, Leo teaches that oil, coal, and petroleum are essential for everyday needs, reflecting the interests of their respective corporate owners.
Why does the speaker suggest that children are given 'golden tickets' by corporations more than adults?
-Children are seen as future consumers and are targeted by corporations because they are more impressionable and can be influenced to adopt certain preferences and ideologies.
What responsibility does the speaker assign to parents, educators, policy makers, and advocates regarding children and corporate agendas?
-The responsibility is to ensure that the innocence and imagination of childhood are not tainted by corporate agendas, and to protect and empower future leaders to challenge the status quo.
Outlines
🎬 The Dark Side of Childhood Classics
This paragraph introduces the speaker's unique perspective on movies from a young age, leading to a career in entertainment reporting and film journalism. The speaker critically examines seemingly innocent childhood films, revealing their darker themes such as attempted murder and inappropriate relationships. The paragraph highlights the real-world implications of these narratives and introduces 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' as a case study for further analysis. It also touches on the concept of child-based marketing and its potential to exploit children's vulnerability.
📈 The Power of Brand Identification in Childhood
The second paragraph delves into the strategies of child-based marketing, explaining why corporations target children. It discusses the importance of brand identification from a young age and its long-term impact on consumer behavior. The speaker cites Mike Cales, former president of Kids R Us, to emphasize the idea of 'owning' a child's loyalty early on. The paragraph also explores the influence of commercialism in education, as explained by Dr. Alex Molar, and how it shapes children's mindsets. It provides examples of educational resources with contrasting messages, linked to the interests of the corporations behind them. The speaker also addresses the issue of racial disparities in advertising, particularly in the context of fast food marketing.
🌟 Protecting the Future Leaders from Corporate Influence
The final paragraph reflects on the potential of children to challenge and disrupt the corporate world and societal norms, as seen through the character of Charlie in 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.' It emphasizes the responsibility of various societal roles—parents, educators, policymakers, and advocates—to safeguard the innocence and imagination of children from corporate agendas. The paragraph concludes with a call to action to ensure that the next generation of leaders is not shaped by corporate interests, but rather empowered to bring about positive change.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Childhood Classics
💡Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
💡Child-based Marketing
💡Brand Identification
💡Commercialism in Education
💡Golden Ticket
💡Child Influence
💡Corporate Agendas
💡Status Quo
💡Future Leaders
💡Sweet Innocence and Pure Imagination
Highlights
The speaker has a unique perspective on movies, viewing them critically from an early age.
By the age of 16, the speaker became an entertainment reporter and film journalist, delving deeper into the darker themes of seemingly innocent movies.
Childhood films are often horrifying when viewed through a real-world context, with common themes of murder and manipulation.
The 1971 film 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' is used as a metaphor for the darker side of corporate tactics in luring children.
Child-based marketing is a strategy that exploits children's vulnerability, with corporations projected to spend over 21.1 billion on advertising to an audience without money.
Children influence their parents' buying decisions and are likely to continue using a product they enjoy, leading to brand identification.
Corporations aim to mold children's future loyalty, preferences, and ideologies through commercialism in education.
The speaker discusses the impact of corporate involvement on educational content and the importance of addressing these underlying factors.
Commercialism has transformed classrooms into arenas of subtle warfare, with narratives being the tools used to shape young minds.
The speaker highlights the disparity in advertising exposure between white children and minority children, with the latter being targeted more by fast food corporations.
The potential harm caused by corporate agendas on children's innocence and imagination is emphasized, with a call to action for parents, educators, and advocates.
The story of Willy Wonka serves as a profound revelation about the fear corporations have of children who could challenge the status quo.
The responsibility of protecting and empowering future leaders is stressed, as they are the ones who can disrupt the corporate world.
The speaker concludes with a quote from Willy Wonka, emphasizing the importance of finding a child who can be trusted with the legacy of the factory.
The potential of children to become future activists, lawyers, and teachers is highlighted as a threat to the corporate status quo.
The analogy of Willy Wonka's search for an heir is drawn to the need for society to protect the innocence and imagination of children from corporate influence.
Transcripts
at an early age I've had a rather unique
perspective on movies and watched them
more critically apart from my peers
never understanding the Whimsical appeal
to our childhood Classics I found myself
viewing them through a different lens
so much so that by the age of 16 I
became an entertainment reporter and
film journalist and it was then that I
delve deeper into these seemingly
innocent movies that I uncovered a
rather chilling truth our childhood
films are
horrifying think about it Tales of
attempted murder and the relationship
between a 14-year-old girl and and a
31-year-old
man Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves a child left home alone fighting
off murderous
criminals home
alone or a brother murdering his brother
and then attempting to murder his
nephew The Lion
King while these movies are great we
can't help but know notice how they
affect our real world context as you can
see murder is a common theme with this
said there is one particular movie I
have been studying analyzing and
researching for the past five years the
1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory for those of you who are
fortunately unfamiliar with this film
willly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
follows a handy making man named wiie
Wonka whom no one has seen in years who
owns a factory that no one has been to
in years when all of a sudden out of
nowhere he releases five golden tickets
into the world summoning children to his
Factory which no one has been to in
years to meet a man no one has seen in
years then the five children enter and
only one come comes
out
alive however a horror movie in itself
is not as scary as seeing those five
words solemnly glaze the
screen based on a true story sh Verma an
entertainment journalist explains that
knowing that someone actually went
through that Terror in reality makes the
movie more horrifying in nature and well
while Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory may not be based on a true story
its entire Essence is more legitimate
than you may think you see just like
Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory our
own world is no stranger to Willy Wonka
in his tactics used to lure children
into the holds of a company or product
this is known as child based marketing
and this brings me to my topic
corporations are seeing ample opportun
to take advantage of the overwhelming
fact that children are vulnerable so
that is why first our journey will begin
with taking a closer look at willly
Wonka and his corporate friends then we
will start the search for a golden
ticket to explore the Insidious
strategies corporations use to Target
children until finally seeing what
possible initiatives we could take to
solve such a classified issue before the
factory doors clo behind us
forever while researching I found one
number particularly hilarious
corporations are projected to spend over
21.1 billion do advertising to an
audience that doesn't have any
money as silly as it may sound this is a
business strategy known as childhood
commercial personalism you see to
understand child-based marketing is to
Simply ask why corporations Target
children in the first place simple
really there are two main factors number
one kids influence their parents buying
and most importantly number two kids are
likely to keep wanting to use a product
if we genuinely enjoy it this is known
as brand
identification so taking candy from a
baby is is not as easy as we ought to
think where the metaphorical candy
becomes a shoe brand a favorite soda a
particular phone brand or even a
political party marketing research has
suggested that brand identification is
essential early because it's more potent
later on let us not forget that children
are the future consumers the very
lifeblood of Corporations or as Mike
Cales former president of kids R Us
explains if you own this child at an
early age you can own this child for
years to
come in addition child-based marketing
is not just about selling products but
mindsets as well upon speaking with Dr
Alex molar the nation's leading expert
on corporate involvement in education he
explains that commercialism has become
the curriculum of our culture
corporations cognizant of the
malleability of young minds recognize
that these impressionable individuals
hold the key to a future where loyalty
preferences and ideologies are molded
this recognition transforms classrooms
and libraries into Arenas of subtle
Warfare a war fought not with weapons
but with
narratives for example if I were to
describe an educ ational digital
resource led by a Cheesy scientist who
wears a lab coat with a bow tie some
students will say Bill and I the Science
Guy While others La time with
Leo with so many similarities between
these two there's one difference that
stands out Above All Else their message
while Bill teaches us that global
warming and climate change are crucial
to understand Leo teaches us that oil
coal and petroleum help us with our
everyday needs this difference of
message is linked to one vital
thing who's pulling the
strings Bill n the Science Guy is owned
by the Walt Disney television
Corporation while lab time with Leo is
owned by Oklahoma oil and
gas among these two enthusiastic
Educators is a plethora of other
examples known as school house
commercialism we often find ourselves
embroiled in political debates regarding
the content of our education often
overlooking the underlying factors that
contribute to this division in the first
place it's imperative that we address
these C these root causes to foster a
more unified and constructive
educational
environment and now that I'm thinking
about it Willie Wonka sent Wonka Bars
all over over the world to over 195
different countries across seven
different continents and the only five
kids who happened to receive a Golden
Ticket were white and spoke
English pure coincidence I think
not in retrospect real world
corporations like to send minority
children golden tickets more than their
white peers according to the rut Center
for food policy and obesity black
children and teenagers are shown
75% more advertisements from fast food
corporations on networks with the higher
black audience endorsing obesity
diabetes and high blood pressure at an
early age increasingly schools located
in heavily minority populated areas are
seeing more advertisements within their
schools
also as I conclude I will share a quote
Willy Wonka exchanges with Charlie
the last child remaining at the very end
of the film
quote I can't go on forever and I don't
really want to try so who can I trust to
run the factory when I leave and take
care of the Oompa lumus for me not a
grown-up a grown-up would want to do
everything his own way not mine so that
is why I decided a long time ago that I
had to find a child a very honest loving
child to whom I could tell all my most
precious Candy Making Secrets end
quote in the enchanting tale of willly
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory we
discover a profound Revelation that
perhaps it's not just about trust
perhaps deep down it's also about
fear fear of what a child like Charlie
Bucket could become a child with the
potential to challenge the status quo to
question established norms and to
disrupt the very fabric of the corporate
world and Society
itself willing Walker saw this potential
in Charlie and corporations see it in
the children they target the future
awaits and it's the responsibility of
all of us parents Educators policy
makers and Advocates to ensure that the
sweet innocence and Pure Imagination of
childhood is not tainted by corporate
agendas for just as Willy Wonka sought a
child to inherit his legacy we too must
protect and empower the Future Leaders
of our world because the fact that we
are the future criminal justice lawyers
climate change activists and teachers
make us Willie Wonka's worst
nightmare
w
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