Minimising advertising to kids

[battlecrumpet]

Advertising to kids is something that I'm dead against because (a) kids under 8 are apparently too young to understand the function of advertising; and (b) ads (esp to children) help to form values that are consumerist and, ultimately, environmentally destructive.

So there's my introductory rant :)

I'd be interested in getting involved in some campaigning about this topic but don't know of any Australian organisations that actually campaign against advertising to children.

Does anyone know of any?

Thanks!

[Ceres]

I detest advertising too, my DS understands it as a "fact" and recently told me that milo is healthy because it's an energy food........:rofl so there was a learning opportunity!
Ideas for avoiding it... disable the commercial stations on tv, just watch dvd's instead of free-to-air tv, one of those devices that allows you to record tv and fast-forward through the ads...
As they get older it would be an interesting experiment to look critically at the ads and help them to understand what messages the advertisers are trying to send. I've explained it to my DS that they are trying to trick him into spending money but at age 5 he's not quite getting it yet.
As for campaigns against advertising to children.. I have read something about it somewhere but I honestly can't remember any details.
Interestingly I watched a documentary once about how a lot of advertising is meant for children as they apparently have a lot of sway over adult purchases (cars, phones, computers and so on) and how advertisers very deliberately go for the "nag" factor. It was really interesting, I'll see if I can find it again.

[Ceres]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKH4YGKnOSs
This is the trailer for the film which is called "Consuming Kids". It was excellent.

[GreenGully]

J seems to understand that ads are misleading, though not always. He will often see an ad for a cleaning product (if he is watching commercial tv, which is actually very rare these days) and will tell me "that stuff isn't very good is it, it has chemicals" and then "people say it is good but it isn't, we should tell everyone" etc etc. I think he wants to save the world from advertising lol

[asimplelife]

My kids wath ads (we only hae free to air in our house) and I tend to use them as a learning opportunity if they bring it up. DD doesn't get it yet and is drawn into all the pink plasti but DS understands to a degree.