This Little Kiddy Went To Market

Sharon Beder is a visiting professor in the School of Social Sciences, Media and Communication at the University of Wollongong. She is considered a leading authority on corporate and environmental issues. She is the author of several books, including Free Market Missionaries (Earthscan, 2012), Power Play (DIANE, 2009) and This Little Kiddy Went to Market (Pluto, 2009). Dr Wendy Varney is an honorary fellow at the University of New South Wales. She is the author of This Little Kiddy Went to Market (Pluto, 2009). Dr Richard Gosden is a full time writer and researcher based in Australia. He is the author of This Little Kiddy Went to Market (Pluto, 2009).

Praise for Sharon Beder's previous book Global Spin:

'Sharon Beder has taken the taboo subjects of propaganda and censorship in free societies and exposed their insidious threat.'

John Pilger


'Beder's analysis is comprehensive, steely and clinical. She lifts the lid on an elaborate tapestry of lies, deceit, intimidation and destruction.'

Harold Pinter


This book investigates the way that corporations are strategically shaping children to be under-aged hyperconsumers as well as the submissive employees and uncritical citizens of the future.


Sharon Beder shows how marketers and advertisers are targeting ever younger children in a relentless campaign, transforming children's play into a commercial opportunity and taking advantage of childish anxieties.


Beder investigates the corporate relations and ideals that infiltrate every aspect of our lives. She presents an alarming picture of how a child's social development -- through education, health care and nutrition -- has become an ordered conveyor belt of consumerist conditioning. Focusing on education in particular, Beder explains how businesses are taking control of more and more aspects of schooling, not only for profit but to erode state schooling and promote business values. Similarly, she shows how 'difficult' children are taught from an early age that pharmaceuticals can be used to discipline them or to make them 'happy'.

Introduction 1. Turning Children into Consumers 2. Turning Play into Business 3. Branding Childish Identities 4. Teaching Consumer Values 5. Turning Schools into Businesses 6. Making Schools Accountable 7. Business Campaigns 8. Made to Order 9. Dumbing Down Future Citizens 10. Teaching Corporate Values 11. Privatising Schools 12. Turning Schools into Markets 13. Privatisation Proponents 14. Controlling Wayward Children Conclusion Notes