SOCIAL WORKERS and religious leaders have called on political candidates to stop exploiting children in their radio, print and TV advertisements. They point out that children have the right to enjoy their childhood and should focus on their studies and developing their talents and abilities, and should not be used to promote partisan issues that are too mature for them to adequately handle.

We trust that politicians and the general public will heed those caveats, because children are too immature to defend themselves, so their parents and mentors have to do it for them.

Even after the May 10 elections, responsible adults should continue to uphold children?s rights when it comes to exploitation in the media, more specifically in the many product commercials that use child talents to convince their parents to buy the products and services being advertised.

Exploitation

In our view, this general use of kids as product ?salesmen? is as reprehensible as their exploitation in political ads. And, its effects are more pervasive and nefarious, because product ads aren?t cyclical phenomena and are here to stay.

Spots that feature children encourage young viewers to be materialistic, to equate their parents? love for them with the material goodies they provide, and to be precociously conscious about the ?need? to keep up with their juvenile peers in acquiring trendy products that prove that they?re with-it and ?in.?

Kiddie product ads also ?teach? young viewers that possessions are indications of a person?s worth, distracting kids from the more essential task of developing a good and strong character and values system, which is what real self-worth should be all about.

It also promotes class distinctions between the haves and the have-nots, which further distract from and diminish the more important distinctions that should be made.

Other negative factors that come into play include instant satisfaction, sibling rivalry and a herd mentality that promotes conformity, not individuality.

People who sell products and services hire psychologists who are aware of the emotional and psychic forces that make buyers prefer one product over another?and they efficiently employ child talents to do the selling for them, because they know the great persuasive power lying latent in complex child-parent relationships.

Landmines

The field is so loaded with potential landmines that the impulse to buy has become a modern-day battleground for kids and parents alike. When you buy a product or service, you don?t just aquire possession of it, you also open yourself up to a veritable Pandora?s Box of subliminal motivations and emotions that would rival a Greek tragedy in their intensity.

That?s why the use of kid salesmen in commercials should be both responsible and judicious, starting with the decision to use ?cute? child actor-salesmen as sparingly as possible, in the first place.