A Hummer for every kid

Not that kids can afford one, but companies are realizing that kids influence their parents, who probably can afford the monstrous sports-utility vehicle and other expensive-ticket items. That's why GM has created www.hummerkids.com, a website where kids can play online games like "See the World" and "No Roads Needed." The games are a little lame, and GM's lack of basic trivia knowledge is a bit worrying, (take note, GM: the Great Wall of China is not actually visible from space,) but alas. . .even the webmasters take hits after GM's US$10 billion in net losses for the 2005 fiscal year.

Beyond vehicles, however: Does it come as a shock that Nickelodeon (owned by Viacom) commands high advertising fees, oftentimes much more than mainstream adult-channels, and that car ads and prescription medicine is advertised alongside GI Joe and Barbie during Saturday-morning cartoons and "Nick at Night?" The Economist magazine, in an article in their December 2 issue, doesn't see this as a strange phenomenon. And neither should anyone else.

Think of how much persuasion power kids have over their parents, in either what The Economist calls "direct-influence" ("Mom, I want an Apple computer) and what they call "indirect-influence" (quoting the magazine "Little Timmy would prefer it if we bought the Lexus"). Either way, kids have sway. . .and as an added bonus, the companies then have a little customer from the beginning to the very end.