Comments on: Born to Buy: Habit Formation

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:50:20 +0000

I have a friend who’s exactly like your childhood friend, except he’s, well, an adult. But if you want to know his favorite soda at the moment, it’s just whatever’s on TV, be it C2, Coke Zero, Vanilla Coke, Diet Coke with Lemon, or whatever. He’s like an advertising sponge.

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:48:17 +0000

It’s funny that you mention food being like a drug. Food, including sugar, acts on the pleasure center of the brain. Chocolate has a compound that is similar to thc. Food has the ability to release endorphins just like exercise, gambling, etc. Not to mention MSG that is added to just about every processed food. Now sugar hasn’t been proved to cause hyperactivity to the point where it is directly linked to ADHD but it does give one a quick boost, similar to caffiene, the most used drug of all.

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:48:42 +0000

“What can you do to help? Be a model parent.”

I understand what you’re saying here, and agree with it. But I think the better point is that EVERY parent is a model parent, for better or for worse. Even if you don’t want to be a model for your kids, you are. Parents of teenagers often think they don’t listen to their parents. Maybe they don’t obey, but they are listening and watching – and your actions do speak louder than your words. Those are the years when kids are sophisticated enough to identify where your injunctions don’t match your behavior, when your hypocrisy is showing, and when they’re old enough to challenge your judgments, values, and conclusions. Doesn’t matter, even though it drives you crazy. You’re still their most important models, for better or worse.

By: Lenore

Lenore — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:17:56 +0000

It was interesting to me that you created a personalized section of pizza for not only your son but also yourself and your wife. Seems adults can be picky and as accustomed to our single-serving society as kids. At least you save money by making your own pizza and distributing the ingredients so they won’t be picked off and wasted. Thank goodness you’re aware of your son’s innate desire for autonomy and how marketers will manipulate it as he grows up. I think it’s crucial to start telling kids as soon as they can understand about the sneaky, illogical and exploitive techniques advertisers use. We’re all products (pun intended) of an environment deluged with commercialism and emotional manipulation. Basic consumer education should include strategies for tuning out and debunking advertising’s lies.

By: Saving Freak

Saving Freak — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:46:01 +0000

Isn’t the problem really with kids watching too much TV and thus seeing more marketing? We were only allowed to watch an hour a day and that was enough to influence us toward the wrong choices for food. I can remember not knowing what the latest and greatest junk food was because I hadn’t been sitting in front of the TV and my friends had.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:21:39 +0000

Kids will emulate their parents’ desire for coffee, or other more effective things, like the wonderful Provigil (modafinil), which I believe you can get a free trial for (even though it’s prescription only) via this site ;-)

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:23:04 +0000

I think chris makes a good point about on-brand and off-brand foods. Off brand just isn’t the same when you’re a kid.

Also, it is important to recognize that kids aren’t thinking about their health 60 years down the road. Sugar tastes good, so they want to eat/drink it. It isn’t all marketing that makes them want this stuff.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:41:38 +0000

I recently finished a book called “Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children” by Ann Cooper and Lisa M. Holmes. I think that the message in that book very much lines up with your concluding thoughts about being a good role model for children’s diets. One of the tips for healthy children is “Don’t buy into marketing for kids.”

In particular, “Lunch Lessons” addresses the issues of the school lunch program, and how we as parents and others invested in our children can take steps to change the food our kids eat. (And it includes recipes!)

Anyway, that’s kind of beside the point of this particular book discussion, but I thought it was interesting to be reading these two side by side.

By: tightwadfan

tightwadfan — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:13:29 +0000

I don’t know about the conclusions in this chapter, my own experience and memories are different. Marketing would often have a strong effect on me wanting to try a food, but if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t ask my parents to get it a second time. Some commercials could turn me off wanting to try a food in fact. I and my siblings liked Sunny Delight (we still do, I think it’s the tanginess) even though the commercials were cheesy. Also when Polly-O string cheese came out there was a particular commercial that was so annoying I refused to try the cheese for several years. I ended up really liking that too when I finally did try it.

There are tons of sugary junk foods that I loved as a kid that I no longer touch (wax soda bottles anyone?), but I didn’t love them because my parents wouldn’t eat them or I saw them as “my food”. I loved them because I had a huge sweet tooth and now my taste buds have changed.

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:53:28 +0000

This is interesting discussion, but I really feel like the “kids vs. adults” or “separation” argument must be overplayed in the book. I have not read the book, but, the review here leads me to believe the “us vs. them” sentiment is a central tenet.

By: Greener Pastures: Responsible Personal Finance

Greener Pastures: Responsible Personal Finance — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:45:01 +0000

I agree with your conclusion completely. Part of being a model parent is setting healthy examples, and promoting healthy habits at an early age. What a baby and/or child learns is imprinted on them more strongly than behaviors learned at later ages.

Lisa

By: chris

chris — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:09:06 +0000

I can attest that marketing plays a big role in the appeal of sunny d. But not so much in the preference over Orange Juice. But the preference over off brand sunny D. As a kid I loved sunny D because it didn’t have pulp and was a little more tangy than orange juice. If they had the no pulp oj they have nowadays i’d have loved it as a kid.

However, whenever I’d have tampico or other off-brand Sunny D things despite there being no taste difference I was convinced in my head that it just wasn’t the same.

By: Brooke

Brooke — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:36:39 +0000

Oh, I so remember those “Kid Cuisine” tv-dinners. What an enticingly unhealthy meal. And we used to beg for them any time we were going to be left with a babysitter!

By: Jesse

Jesse — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:11:40 +0000

Michael, I’m not sure what you mean there. Obviously modeling healthy eating is an important and worthwhile thing to do for your child.

If you’re implying that Trent meant that is the only requirement to be a model parent, I think you’re building a pretty weak straw man argument.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:19:33 +0000

Someone who equates model parenting and eating healthy isn’t a model parent.