Babysitting and watching an episode of Wonder Pets!. The show, for ages 2-5 respectively, is trumped when the commercial “KidzBop” comes on. Out of former complacent programming burst three girls moving, singing, dancing in a simulated recording studio. Shaking heads and future hips move to the phrase “Take me on a trip I’d like to go somewhere…” Capitalizing on adolescent energy and video culture, the television comes alive. Glamour, clubs, shopping sprees, riding in cars—what people do until they go middle age—the commercial jumps to four boys on a couch singing a ballad of love and commitment. KidzBop highlights the diverse range of musical genres available to consumers of all ages as well as the fundamental desires required to participate in 21st century capitalist culture.
The commercial is made for ages 12-14 and thus marketed to the 6-8 year olds—those still waiting for sterile public school sex education. Moments before KidzBop we were sold action figures, dolls—packaged plastic in all shapes and forms. The entire commercial break is an offering of innocence and promiscuity in a span of three minutes. While the child is vivaciously learning lessons in material culture, the adult has learned. He or she swallows the daily multi-media vitamin just to function.
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