1 OPINION
Friday.March 31,2(XX) THE BATTALION PageTT
BY K. OEt
reudian slip-up
\arketers’ use of psychologists to assail children with products marks a new ethical low
sychologists hired
by marketers in or
der to target children
debated in the Amer-
Psychological Asso-
|on last Friday, accord-
o USA Today.
"ritics of the “eom-
{cial exploitation of
|dren” said the A PA
jld curb this practice by setting new ethi-
|tandards, according to a letter signed by
it 60 psychiatrists and psychologists.
’he focus on children as customers is not
felw process — remember Garbage Pail
Jids cards? But using psychology to entice
rloilng children is going too far.
|\gencies hiring psychologists to consult
i on the best ways to snag children is a
l|nvely new practice, but the practice has
i growing, according to Dan Acuff of
?Ms Consulting in USA Today.
■\cuff claims children are “consumers-in-
, , raining” and need practict^for adult life.
oc jOnnnyu*H hi | dreil ma y necd t0 i earn Ihe value of
Miey and how to shop responsibly, but they
to pot need to be lambs chased by wolves.
(
Milt, professional psychologists have an un-
^ air advantage over 8-year-olds.
^"^'■Considering that children spend S28 bil-
(- ccmrr,. w f t i ie j r own mone y yearly and teens
''/Wnd $100 billion, it is not surprising that
narketers are looking for new and better
vays of grabbing their business. Parents
ijtnd $249 billion under the influence of
r kids.
any parents, especially in dual-income
ilies, say they do not have adequate time
[each their children the dangers of falling
the advertisement trap. Since parents
lattnot or will not take responsibility for edu-
:ating their children, someone should look
>ut for their interests.
jChildren measure their self-worth by their
sessions more than their parents did at the
ie age, according to a survey ofparents
inducted by the Center for a New American
Dream in USA Today.
But parents are not always the best con
sumers themselves.
Watching adults turn into crazed groupies
over the little, stuffed animals called Beanie
Babies should be proof that parents do not al
ways act as good examples of consumerism.
Children do not need the added disadvantage
of being brainwashed to buy Happy Meals.
Children see 50 to 100 advertisements per
day. “More is less” seems to be a dead mantra
in the marketing business.
And with the addition of computers into
more homes, kids are susceptible to even
more advertisements. Commercials increas
ingly point children to Websites where they
can register for prizes, and in turn receive a
large influx of email hyping other products
advertisers think the child might like.
The manner of advertising is questionable
as well as the means of research. Some ads
try to appeal by advocating unappealing be
havior, like begging. Others glamorize prod
ucts unreasonably, depict parents as nerdy or
stupid, make children want to emulate older
behavior and use peer pressure.
Naive as it may seem, psychologists origi
nated to help people. Six to nine years of
school and a professional degree should con
stitute some sort of ethical value system.
Manipulating children by using sleazy tac
tics does not fit into the world of ethics.
If professional psychologists and psychia
trists have come to the point where working
for a company making kids want to buy Poke-
mon cards is more appealing than helping
those who need them, there is obviously a
problem with the field.
The APA should either denounce these
psychologists’ actions or add to the ethi
cal standards all psychologists should fol
low. Maybe next Christmas there will not
be the mad rush for a fad toy based on
psychological tests.
Jill Riley is a senior
journalism major.
Employer speaks on
early registration
Economic status should
not play part in issue
"^'lnresponse to students’ March 30 mail call. In response to students’ March 30 mail call.
eagei
2000
t Free &
nd
ill
ierson Park
? door
|For 10 years I ran one of the computer help
esks for Computing & Information Services
CIS). I was the only full-time staff at the help
( ^esk; all of the other employees were student
'Orkers. I can tell you with utmost certainty that
early registration is a critical factor in getting
Ind keeping quality student workers. Let's face
the pay for student worker jobs on campus
does not pay as well as jobs in the community.
Having perks such as early registration are crit
ical to the employers.
I: Eliminating early registration will not cripple
the student worker force on campus. But it cer
tainly will make life a lot more difficult. And that
is one headache that we just don't need.
Chris Barnes
Computer Systems Manager
Dept, of Geography
ehner March 2^ ^
INVITED 1
ngfest at Rudit^OC motives for pushing
proposal criticized
i l A <- Ut ( In.response to The Battalion’s March 30
cirs at MSC ■ ,foria/ -
at Rudder rm M; ; I find it appalling and a bit scary that our Uni-
bors at Wolf p e n :r# rsit y aciministl ' ators are chan g in g P oli cy based
„ iplelyon what the top ten universities are doing.
net DrUIlk Drill Did their P arents never give them the lec-
. >re about not following the other kids off the
_J|ff? Texas A&M’s mindless stampede to
ps homogeneity among other schools can
fly end in student apathy and a total sacri-
e of our identity.
For an administration that so vehemently
Jgs diversity it is ironic that their goals for the
[liversity all seem to be bent on conformity.
Carry Clinton
Class of ’00
I am a non-working student, and I support
keeping the early registration privilege for those
who do work while going to school. I think many
of the letters from student workers made very
important arguments for keeping the early reg
istration policy.
However, those who employ class warfare as
an argument only cloud the debate with irrele
vant arguments. Students who do not work are
not "rich little boys and girls" who are pam
pered for life. Many have scholarships, loans,
and/or earn enough income in the summer to
cover their expenses. If there is someone out
there who "goes to class, and spends the rest
of the day studying, watching soaps, sunbathing
or doing other fun things, making a 4.0, and
complaining about registering late," I have yet
to meet them in my five years at A&M.
There are many hard working students at
A&M. Some work at school, some work at jobs,
some work at extracurricular activities. Some
manage to do it all. But those with jobs do not
have a corner on the "hard work" market. The
driving issue in this debate is how to make
class schedules that are conducive to student
workers. Let’s keep it at that and leave class
warfare out of it.
Tase Bailey
Class of ’99
> resents...
ouse
Free
Musif
Opee
Mk
new frieni
:h 31 st
; at 7:00 ,
iiliin'i li
The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must
be 300 words or less and include the author's name, class
and phone number.
The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for
length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in per
son at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Letters
may also be mailed to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
77843-1111
Fax: (409) 845-2647
E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com
JEFF SMITH/The Battalion
Society’s priorities mixed up when
pets are valued more than children
I n Gainesville, Florida, a tearful Jennifer
Graham pleads on television for informa
tion about the abduction of her daughter,
Jessica Rodriguez. There is a $15,000 reward
for information leading to the arrest and con
viction of the kidnapper. Meanwhile, across
the nation in San Jose, Calif., Sara McBur-
nett, the heartbroken owner of Leo, a bichon
frise dog, urges anyone who knows anything
about the person who hurled her dog into
three lanes of oncoming traffic to come forward with the infor
mation. The dog met his untimely demise after a slight fender ac
cident. After the accident, the suspect approached McBurnett’s
car, reached in McBurnett’s car window, which she had rolled
down to apologize, and grabbed her pet Leo.
Animal rights groups
and people world wide have
donated and pledged a total
of $109,000 in reward mon
ey for the person who turns
in Leo’s killer. Looking at
these two tragedies, it
seems that there is more
concern over a dead dog
than a missing child and
this is simply not right.
Donators to Leo’s cause
argue that the person who
tossed the dog into traffic
needs to be caught and the
overwhelming amount of the
reward will prompt people to
come forward with infonna-
tion. Most people agree with
the idea that the suspect
needs to be caught. The per
son has a serious case of
road rage and is a danger.
But finding missing children
should have top priority.
Last'year, there was an
estimated 2,100 children re
ported missing per day to the
police and the FBI’s Nation
al Crime Information Center
according to the National
Center for Missing and Ex
ploited Children. This statis
tic is alarming to most
Americans. But what is
more startling is the idea
that the reward for a dog
killer is roughly ten times as
much as for the average
missing child. The idea that society has found missing children
to be so common is disturbing.
Others argue that because the road rage case is so unusual it
warrants the money and surrounding media frenzy. Unusual as it
is, a young girl being abducted from her driveway at 4 p.m. in
front of her younger sisters should be even more noticeable.
There is usually no media frenzy for those 2,100 children that are
missing daily. Many people would agree that a child is more im
portant than a pet. Yet, when a bizarre case like Leo’s occurs,
suddenly missing children are insignificant. The hype about poor
Leo points to a greater problem with society. It takes something
as unusual as a serious case of road rage to gain public notice.
The Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley has received sympa
thy cards and donations from around the world. The mother of the
missing Florida girl received donations from her community, but
not from people across the nation. This is not acceptable.
An animal rights group in Virginia, Our Animal WARDS
(Working for Animals used in Research, Drugs and Surgery)
contributed $50,000 to the reward fund. Ken Byrer, spokesper
son for Our Animal WARDS, said, “We decided [that] you have
to draw a line for civilization somewhere.” The line according
to animal rights groups is the unnecessary death of animals,
however the line does not apply to the fact that in society to
there are children ab
ducted daily and many
times never found.
It seems that only the
extraordinary gains the
attention of the public.
It is a sad time in Amer
ican history when miss
ing children go unno
ticed by the public.
American society has
become so saturated
with sensationalism that
the plight of missing
children is not exciting.
If the media could help
the problem, instead of
augmenting it, maybe
the statistics on missing
children would be low
er. If society takes the
time and donates the
money to the search for
missing children,
maybe the problem
could be solved.
Society should hold
itself accountable for
the serious problem that
has come from these
two events, and agree
that a dog killer’s arrest
is not more important
than a kidnapper’s.
When society falls into
that trap, it will grow
complacent with terrible
events. If a child’s ab
duction is so common
place that it only warrants a $15,000 reward, there is a serious
problem with the priorities of civilization. As the problem pro
gresses, if the abduction of children is considered normal, then
the chances of ever becoming a civilized nation becomes even
more remote.
Brieanne Porter is a freshman chemical
engineering major.
ROBERT HYNECEK/The Battalion