I had the opportunity to spend some time with my little 3- and 6-year-old nephews this week. They came all the way across the country from the place where it’s always warm and sunny. I took them into the Shaw’s supermarket for about three items. That quick trip with three-foot-high people gave me renewed insight into the trials of shopping with small children. In those fifteen minutes, they must have stopped to gaze at about a dozen products with characters on them, placed strategically at their eye level, plus a Disney Princess balloon hovering over the baked goods.
Eight years ago, when my own boys were that age, I just don’t remember so many characters decorating everything. I don’t know whether things have gotten that much worse over a decade, or if it’s just that Shaw’s is that much worse than the locally-owned store we used to go to, Roche Bros. Has anyone else noticed a huge increase over the past few years of cartoons or licensed characters on packaging?
Marketing, Media and Childhood 