Kids + Branding

One of my favorite topics we covered this semester was branding and how we teach children to recognize brands and how they create their own style through their life from these brands. Corporate America are no fools when they target virtually anything towards kids because most parents will spend whatever amount of money to keep their children happy. So basically the money is in the child’s hands and at their disposal. As a child, I can remember dozens of times my mother would take me and my siblings or our friends to McDonalds to eat a cheap meal and play in the big area. I also remember McDonalds having the beanie baby toys in their happy meals and I would collect them, so I was one of these corporate America children begging my parents to take me to McDonalds so I could them all. To this day, as unhealthy and disgusting McDonalds food is, I go there the most frequently probably because I created a loyalty long ago with McDonalds therefore I choose their cheap, nasty product above their competitors. I remember watching the video of kids and brands in class and being shocked at how little they were yet they knew so many of these brands. The more I thought about it the less shocked I felt because these kids are active spenders in the market. From birth they are exposed to these brands and their symbols so by the time they can start talking it is not shocking that kids are able to figure out which symbol means what.