Harvesting Minds: How TV Commercials Control Kids

Fox's book is a field researcher's report about the effects of Channel One on kids. Using a tape recorder to document the words, the author collects convincing anecdotal evidence, then offers a good analysis of it. Kids today may well know the glittering surfaces and superficialities of ads -- the slogans and the celebrities -- but this book reminds us that kids are still kids: very naive, uncritical, and innocent about the ways of the world of persuasion. Fox elicits and records the comments of children as they talk about the ads they've seen on Channel One as part of this nationwide captive audience of over 8 million kids in classrooms, in a valuable locale and "day-part." Of special interest is the author's analysis of the kids' deep involvement in these ads, and of the many ways they incorporate and "replay" these ad messages. This book should be required reading -- and reflection --for every teacher, administrator, and school board member who is responsible for allowing Channel One into their classrooms.