Reprinted with permission from School-Age Notes, the most trusted publisher and provider of quality, innovative resources designed to elevate the skills of adults who create learning opportunities for children and youth.

In their recently released So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids, Diane E. Levine, Ph.D., and Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., explain the role that media and marketing have had in undermining children's healthy development. The authors explain that marketers have long targeted children as potential consumers, and they know that using sex and sexiness is one of the most successful ways to get children's attention in order to make them want to shop (pg. 35). Through their lobbying efforts, advertisers and marketers have significantly reduced the regulatory power of two major government agencies designed to protect the consumer. the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communication Commission. Subsequently, children were and are left exposed to risqué media tactics designed to manipulate children (and their parents) to purchase their products.