Kid Stuff

A child psychologist discusses current topics related to children and adolescents.

by Melinda Scime

Melinda Scime, Ph.D. is a psychologist at the University at Buffalo's Center for Children and Families. She specializes in working with school-aged children.

May 18, 2008, Child Development

Kids and Commercials

Kids and commercials - what message is Dairy Queen sending?

The impact of popular media on children's development cannot be overstated. In fact, it is so ubiquitous that we often just accept media messages as "the way things are" and don't think about questioning them. A recent commercial for Dairy Queen brought this issue to the forefront of my mind. If you haven't seen this commercial yet, take a minute to watch it before reading further.

As a woman and a mother of a daughter, this commercial infuriates me! What is the message here to children that are developing and learning about themselves as interpersonal beings? To me, this commercial says loud and clear that being a girl/woman means getting boys/men to buy you things. Men should be insulted by this commercial as well - especially the ending where the young girl tells her mother that getting the boy to buy her a sundae was "like shooting fish in a barrel." You know because boys/men are so dumb/helpless in the face of a smiling girl/woman that they don't stand a chance.

What's a parent to do when we know that the average child in the United States watches 4 hours of television per day? And sees approximately 40,000 commercials a year! It is also important to keep in mind that television is just one sphere of media influence; there are also video games, song lyrics, music videos, billboards, magazines, books, and the Internet. It is imperative that you familiarize yourself with what your child is listening to, watching, reading, etc. Watch television with him or her and talk about what you see (and don't see). There are websites with more specific tips on raising healthy children in our commercial society and books devoted to the subject as well. The most important thing is to do something in response to media messages. It is when we remain complacent and silent that we contribute to the problem.