In “Creating Meat-Eaters: The Child as Advertising Target,” Delahoyde and Despenich argue that “Paranoia about the growing validity of the vegetarian alternative has prompted meat advertisers to secure their own future through the most susceptible consumers — children” (148). Throughout their essay, they show how meat advertisements have a “vindictive, aggressive characteristic” (136), a “frantic intensity […], an aggressive defensiveness” (138), and have infiltrated toys and toy marketing, movies, television shows, Nike ads, food products that use cartoon characters and are marketed directly toward children, newspaper comics, valentine cards, and educational materials. The write that “It is virtually impossible to sort out the finess of business blur here or the parameters of the corporate conspiracy. But loudly and clearly comes the message of the essentialness and normality of meat-eating” (143). I found their tone entertaining because it was a bit righteous and condemning of the meat industry.
Delahoyde, Michael, and Susan C. Despenich. “Creating Meat-Eaters: The Child as Advertising Target.” Journal of Popular Culture 28.1 (Summer 1994): 135-149.
