Magazines often talk about television programmes that some tweens are not allowed to watch. Some soap’s broadcast before the watershed and display nudity, swearing, and violence. The children may copy what they see and here and this can lead to behaviour problems. The age rating for films are going down, so children are getting to see things that are unsuitable for them and parents do not seemed to be concerned because they think that professionals know what they doing, and so they trust them. But the film rating people just want money, so by putting the ratings of films down they make more.
Pop star videos also play their part in encouraging children to grow up faster, because they show pop stars performing in their underwear or other “sexy clothing”, for example, Akon “I wanna love you” and Nelly and Justin Timberlake “Work it”. Both of these videos show stars in inappropriate clothing and pro dancing as well, which should not be shown to young children. Children think that it is “cool” to dress like the people in the videos. The layers of make – up on the dancers and pop stars make the children think that looking natural is not good enough.
Some girls who dress like Britney Spears do not realise it can be extremely dangerous. Older men walking on the streets may think that the girls are older than they actually are. This can lead to sexual assaults such as rape and as children as so young will not know how to handle the situation. Adele from the Panorama video said that she dresses the way she does because her favourite pop stars dress that way. She also wants to be like Britney Spears when she grows up. As well as music videos, some song lyrics are unsuitable for tweens as they contain swearing. Eminem for example uses a lot of swearing and words that are about drugs and killing people. ‘ I don’t give a f***, you’ve been acting up’. 50 Cent also uses inappropriate words and also talk about drugs ‘I got the X if you’re into taking drugs’. Young children are learning a lot through listening to and watching music videos. Listening to lyrics with unacceptable words leads the children into violence and other things because they think it is ‘cool’ to do that because that is what the lyrics imply.
Two children in the Panorama video were hugerly influenced my the media. Izaak is twelve and he said that he is influenced by what others waer. He only buys clothes if they come a from a specific shop with a paticular label. His father let him buy a sex pistol t-shirts with an obsence message printed onit. This is not resposible parenting in my opinioin. Izaak acroos as a rude spoilt child. Adele also does not like to buy clothes that do not have any branded names on them. Her parents buy branded clothes for her, and by doing this they are spoiling her. Adele’s little sister also wants to buy branded clothes, and both of them are too young to by branded clothes. Adele is a person that follows the crowd, if she sees five people who have a poncho for example, then she will go and get one because she’s seen other people have one. She also thinks that if she wears a ‘nicky no no’ (non – branded clothes) then she will get bullied. Peer pressure is plays a big part for them to grow up quickly. As Adele glows up she will have the wrong values, she will be materialistic, manipulative in order to get what she wants and disloyal to “nicky no names” friends.
The media on the also Imogen negatively even though she curiously avoids it. She is home schooled so there she has no peer pressure, her mum makes her mute the adverts that come on the television and she ignores the pop ups on the Internet. Unlike the other two children, she gets her clothes from charity shops. She thinks that buying branded clothes means that the brand owns you, just as the farmer owns his cows when he brands it. However she still buys the Bratz dolls because she sees it in the shop.
The toy industry in the 80’s made toys for 0-12 year olds, but now they have lowered the age to 0 – 8. They assume that children above eight are not interested in toys any more, but in make up and clothes. Compared to the 80’s the toys have changed, for example for six years olds, they sell temporary tattoos and the Bratz dolls. This is influencing young children to grow up quickly from a young ages, because tattoos are for older people and some children would like to dress like the Bratz dolls. For tweens, clothes are the new toys (Gary Grant – from the British Association of Toy Retailers).
Branded clothes used to be only for adults, but now they sell branded clothes for young children and even babies. Parents get excited seeing branded clothes for babies and buy them for their children. As they get older, they want to wear branded clothes all the time. Children younger than five years old recognize brand names such as Gucci, and FCUK. Children who are about one and half years old recognise the MacDonald’s golden arches. The Government have concluded that all schools have to have uniform to avoid ‘brand snobbery’.
It is not easy to avoid the being influenced by the media, but some children can make it, and those children are strong inside because they are not peer pressured. ¾ of the children have a television at home, 2/3 of tweens surf the Internet at home and are exposed to more advertising in this way. Only some children are able to avoid adverts though the help of their parents. However, children still buy things without their parents knowing. This is from peer pressure. This is because they receive over one billion pounds a year in pocket money and gifts. 60% of the decisions about new purchase in the house are decided by children (according to by Martin Lindstrom a Global Marketing Consultant).
The media can be blamed for children growing up too soon because of the content in magazines and television adverts. These convey the wrong impression of girls and boys at a young age to grow up too soon without realising dangers and harm. However, we have to take in count that individual’s also follow the crowd. Girls of the age nine or ten, worry about the way they look, but they should be going outside and having fun. The media should not show pop stars and celebrities half naked as children get influenced really easily. In the end how children behave depends on the parents being careful and responsible and explaining values to them. However despite some parent’s best efforts, the media still has an irresistible tug on the tweens of today.