Originally Posted by MysticCat81

How does my 8-year-old know to tell his sister not to believe everything she sees in advertising? Because we let him spend some of his valuable money on something he saw an ad for and had to have. We told him it didn't look worth anything, but we let him decide. I'm glad we did -- he was very disappointed in the product and learned not to trust commercials.

Originally Posted by KSig RC

This actually isn't all that true - not to mention that the stereotyping you've presented is somewhat irresponsible. I won't get too deep into the stats right now (I can if you want), but the data do not support your 'spoiled kids' theory (other than a brief dip in 99-03, teen employment has risen pretty steadily, it's actually that savings have dropped).

Also, while the enabling mechanism might be similar for adolescents and pre-adolescent children, I think we can safely argue them separately - I don't think, for instance, that work-eligible children are the primary focus for sites advocating against ads targeting children.

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

However, in the great words of Bart & Lisa Simpson:

"Can we have a pool, Dad?

Can we have a pool, Dad?

Can we have a pool, Dad?

Can we have a pool, Dad?

Can we have a pool, Dad?

Can we have a pool, Dad?

Can we have a pool, Dad?"

Can be pretty effective, therefore, yes, I believe they do market directly to children.

Originally Posted by 33girl

I refer to this as "The Mouse Trap Corollary."

http://www.dennisyang.com/images/mousetrap.jpg

Stupid !#$@ing Mouse Trap never @$^$#^%%$#ing worked. I didn't even pay for it myself, and I'm STILL pissed about this.

Although sometimes I wonder if we ever really do learn (see: $40 lipstick and superexpensive golf clubs).

Originally Posted by Marie

Wow, I wish I had parents that went for that. My mom only said no once b4 the situation got serious.

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I could get away with asking over and over to a point, and I knew exactly when that point was.
(With my Mom, the line was |_|here...with my dad it was more like |_______________________|here.)

Originally Posted by Marie

LOL - Dad's are fun!

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

To this DAY I can still piss my mom off, because if she asks my dad to do something like mow the yard, and I ask him to do something at my house, like fix our phones...later that day our phone is fixed and five days later their lawn is still not mowed.

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

You should be sent to "time out" for saying "piss." I read about that somewhere.

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

LOL.

Although my mom never cared if I said "pissed"...she HATED the word "sucks" though...she'd rather I say "That's Sh*tty" then "That Sucks".

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

I can understand that given the original conotation -- in other words, what you were saying when you said someone "sucks."

Common usage now, though.

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Yes, but 14 years ago when I got grounded for saying it, it wasn't quite common usage yet.