A few journalists I recognise from Northern Ireland come up to chat to me; they tend to hang back from the London-based reporters. "Bloody disgrace," I hear the latter group say, as they chat about the visit. Two refer to the clothes Adams has been wearing lately, in particular a green overcoat someone gave him as a present. If it's not what he says or does, then his clothes will do fine.A few minutes pass. The guys I'm listening to seem personally offended that he might be wearing something decent- looking for the occasion.They seem keen to nail Adams, no matter what.
The assumption that a soft sell ad is a bit like witchcraft, that it can get you to do things, is ludicrous." Most of the items marketed to children are things they want anyway, points out Robin Wright. "The real test of a good ad would be one that got children to do things others can't: clean their teeth, be nice to their parents.". It's 11 December 1997, and I'm standing in Downing Street waiting for Gerry Adams to arrive It's early afternoon Hundreds of the world's press are around me. Photographers are hanging off aluminium stepladders where they have been perched since early morning. There is a strange tension in the air; everyone is both excited and nervous. Cheeky comments are made to the TV reporters doing their pieces to camera; the make-up people are given abuse every time they powder an anchor's face between takes. Reporters and leader writers huddle together, exchanging notes and views.
There is so much more of it, and it is so much more intense in impact."Worries which Brian Young, psychologist, Exeter University, says are unfounded. "My research has shown that from as young as five or six children are quite capable of working out what's going on. "Ten years ago there was Tiswas," points out Tirateli, "now there's Nickelodeon, MTV, the Funday Times, and so on."Not that Jim Murray, director of the European Consumers Organisation (BEUC), sympathises. "Consumer organisations all over Europe are more and more concerned about marketing to children. "If you're a cool brand for a five-year-old, almost by definition you're not a cool brand for a ten-year-old." Keeping up with trends is imperative; Leo Burnett uses the Internet to keep clued-up Questionnaires are posted online to schools. Getting anything meaningful from discussion groups involving exuberant under-sevens is not easy "Pairs work quite well," says Tirateli "One controls the other, and stops any out-and-out lying. "We go to McDonald's or go shopping with them, to try to understand them in a more anthropological way." Advertisers keen to tap in to kid power have to face stringent guidelines (a crucial, but hard-to-police requirement is that advertisements should not actively encourage children to make a nuisance of themselves to parents); competition from other agencies gearing up to woo children; and the prospect of chasing children across different media.
