Kidnapped

Annotation. Children are Sitting Ducks in Today __s High-Powered World of Commercialization According to a 2004 study by the American Psychological Association, companies spend $12 billion annually on advertising aimed directly at children and teens. Children today watch close to a thousand of hours of television every year, the obesity rate of youth ages six to 19 has tripled over the past thirty years, approximately 80% of videogames contain some form of violence, and about 70% of television programming has some sort of sexual content. America __s children are under assault, and a new book from educational researchers Daniel S. Acuff, PhD, and Robert H. Reiher, PhD will help parents protect their children. In Kidnapped: How Irresponsible Marketers are Stealing the Minds of Your Children, Drs. Acuff and Reiher explore the development stages from birth through adolescence and showing what kinds of messages children can __tolerate __ at each stage. Concerned parents, marketers, and educators will learn:12 brain-based learning principles that guide child development today15 developmental __blind spots __ that make children sitting ducks for advertisers and marketersTechniques for helping children become more ad- and media-savvy. Strategies for ensuring child safety on the InternetThe impact of repeated viewing of violent materials on childrenWhy older teens also susceptible to depictions of violence, sexuality, and substance abuseIn Kidnapped, parents, educators will discover how to recognize unethical practices and retailers and marketers will learn how to improve their youth-directed efforts.