The land of the free, the brave, and consumerism is what the United States has become today. The marketing industry exploits children through advertising, which is ridiculously unfair to children. We do advertising and marketing wherever we go; sometimes we don't even realize we are being targeted to spend our money. As a matter of fact, we live to buy; we need and want things constantly, and that will never stop. The film Consuming Kids, written by Adriana Barbaro and directed by Jeremy Earp, highlights children as a powerful demographic, with billions of dollars in purchasing power, but a lack of understanding of marketers' aggressive strategies. Children are easily influenced and exploited, which is why the commercialization of children must be stopped. Marketing to children leads to problems that parents don't even know are happening, such as social, future, and rewired childhood problems. Government regulations must put an end to companies that live, breathe and sell the idea of ​​consumerism to children and instead demonstrate that genuine relationships and values ​​are what's important. Marketers get rich selling the idea of ​​happiness to children; that life is all about buying and getting, and money is happiness. This mistreatment of children, by marketers, negatively affects the social aspects of children. In more recent years, marketers have begun to offer children more expensive, “branded” products. As Velmha La.Point states, “There is a mantra in American society: you are what you have, you are what you buy, you are what you own. The corollary of this is that if you don't have it, then you're nobody” (Consuming Kids). This then leads to things like depression or low self-esteem if… middle of paper… inheritors of worlds as they struggle to distinguish between reality and fiction. The United States has raised a generation to believe that consumerism is the golden ticket to satisfaction and happiness. A return to government regulation is needed to stop marketers and big corporations from brainwashing innocent children, because it is unethical. The issue of children being exploited and unfairly targeted by marketers and advertisers demonstrates that consumerism is dramatically changing culture and values ​​in this country. Basically, the media has become the parents of many children, taking away the relationship between people and invading home life. Works Cited Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood. Dir. Adriana Barbaro and Jeremy Earp. Media Education Foundation, 2008. Film. Consuming children: the commercialization of childhood. Network. February 26. 2014.