"Pitching it to Kids"
From an essay (Time, June 28, 2004):

"Is the ad parade getting out of hand? Consumer advocates say it is, claiming that an explosion of ads for junk food, aimed primarily at children, is fueling the obesity epidemic. (The food industry's lobbying group, the Grocery Manufacturers of America, denies that claim, saying there's no definitive data linking advertising to obesity.)

Another issue: that the lines between advertising, entertainment and educational materials are increasingly blurring, as you may have noticed if you have seen schooling materials like the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Counting Fun book or toys like the Play-Doh George Foreman Grill. "It's unfair. Children don't even know they're being advertised to," says Susan Linn, author of Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood.

Even professionals devoted to marketing seem concerned about some of the brand-building tactics. According to a poll of youth marketers conducted by Harris Interactive earlier this year, 91% of those surveyed said that kids are being pitched to in ways that they don't even notice, and 61% believe that advertising to children starts too young. At what age do they think it's O.K.? A majority of the pros in the poll think it's appropriate to start advertising to kids at age 7, even though they feel that children can't "effectively separate fantasy from reality in media and advertising" before age 9 or make intelligent purchase decisions before 12.

A recent study by the American Psychological Association confirmed that children under 8 have a tough time distinguishing ads from entertainment. But don't expect those findings to kill the product-placement party. "Kids' marketing just grows as businesses realize that children have more purchasing potential than any other demographic," says consultant McNeal, who advises FORTUNE 500 firms on marketing policies....

Prior to the 1970s, toys (such as building blocks, games, dolls) were basically designed as ways of helping children grow up, "a socializing function." Then, as John Seabrook ( New Yorker, Dec. 15, 2003, p. 63) wrote, an "evolution in the design and marketing of toys marked the first time that children younger than twelve were explicitly targeted as consumers. The toy industry taught the makers of other kinds of consumer products that children were a potentially lucrative market, and that 'aspirational age marketing' (selling the charm of feeling older) could be used to sell not only Barbie dolls but clothes but clothes, fast foods, cosmetics, and electronics."

Elementary school students by the millions are easily reached by national network programs, primarily cartoons, in the after-school hours (3 - 5 p.m.) and on Saturday mornings; and several cable TV channels (including Disney, Cartoon Channel, Discovery) target kids constantly.