Статья из Economist для intermediate learners и выше

Ads (реклама) seek kids' grip on family purses – Реклама стремится к господству детей над семейными кошельками

As the holiday shopping season kicks off (начинается) in America and elsewhere, children have started nagging (изводить/ «пилить»/ капать на мозги) their parents for the latest toys.
But listen more closely (внимательно) and that may not be all they are lobbying for (лоббируют/добиваются окольными путями). Marketing to children is no longer about (больше не связан с) hawking (уличная торговля) toys, sweets and cereal in between the cartoons. Children are now influencing (оказывают влияние на) purchasing decisions for grown-up items (товары для взрослых) such as cars and holidays, and firms are responding (действуют) accordingly (соответствующим образом).
Hummerkids.com offers games and coloring pages to teach children about the joys of owning (прелестях владения) a colossal sport-utility vehicle. Honda is about to launch an advertising campaign on Disney's ABC Kids channel. The Cayman Islands' department of tourism buys ads (рекламу) on Nickelodeon, a children's cable channel, promoting expensive holidays. And Beaches Resorts, a hotel chain, has teamed up (объединилась) with "Sesame Street" to make its resorts (курорты) more appealing to (привлекательные для) children.
"The parents have ceded (уступили) control. Children are making decisions about most household products (товары для дома)," said James McNeal, a consultant who has been writing about marketing to children for two decades. He estimated that children under 14 (младше 14) influenced as much as 47 percent of American household spending in 2006, amounting to more than $700 billion.
With websites and cable channels devoted entirely (полностью посвященные) to their interests, today's children are far more exposed to (открыты для/уязвимы перед) marketing than were their parents or grandparents. And as their access (доступ) to media has grown, so has their power to influence (сила воздействия на) their parents. Children now determine (определяют) everything from where their families spend vacation to how their homes are furnished (меблированы). As the technology experts in many homes, they often choose what sort of televisions, stereos and computers their parents buy. And when parents decide to buy boats, all-terrain vehicles (внедорожники) or even barbecue grills, their children can be a heavy influence, too.
Companies have discovered that it is often more effective to recruit (завербовать) a child as an in-home marketer (продавца на дому) than to try to persuade (убедить) a parent to buy their products. Furthermore, every child represents a new chance to build cradle-to-grave brand loyalty (верность одному брэнду от колыбели до могилы).
Parents' groups are upset (огорчены). "How can one family in isolation (собственными силами) combat (бороться с ) this $15 billion industry that's working night and day to undermine parental authority (над подрывом авторитета родителей)?" asks Susan Linn of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
The advertising industry also recognizes that the subject is controversial (неоднозначна/вызывает спорные мнения). Children are hedonists (гедонисты, т.е. любят все земные радости), inclined to (склонны к ) make impulse buys (импульсивным покупкам) and less likely to make educated (обдуманные) purchasing decisions. This can make a lot of difference when children are choosing cars or expensive electronics on behalf of (от имени) their families. Do you really want the "cooler" car instead of the safer one? Can a 7-year-old really choose the best computer?
Probably not. But children have to start learning to distinguish (отделять) truth from spin (рекламной раскрутки) at some point. And there is another reason why firms that target (целятся в ) children need to tread (поступать) carefully. However (какими бы) hedonistic or naive they may be, children have long memories (хорошая память). Advertisers that deceive (обманывают) children could lose them as customers forever.