Save millions with Zillions

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Sept 2, 1996 | by Shannon Young

Unlike his parents, Jimmy isn't interested in what Consumer Reports has to say about skateboards, sneakers or mountain bikes. But a junior version of that magazine talks his language. Zillions, also published by the Consumers Union, conveys the same information in children's lingo: The bimonthly magazine aims to alert them to advertising's seductions and make them better-informed consumers.

"We want to provide children with some kind of counterbalance to all the pressures that are on them to buy, buy, buy," Editor Charlotte Baecher says. "The goal is not to give advice about what to buy, but to question products."

Kids wield tremendous purchasing power -- children age 8 to 12 have more than $17 billion at their command, according to one estimate. Teaching them to be good consumers is important because they "are just becoming independent with their money and are subject to lots of peer pressure," says Baecher. "The problem is that advertisers are getting to kids before the kids understand they're being sold to."

National Education Association spokesman Nelson Canton agrees. Teachers must educate children about being better consumers because commercialism is finding its way into American schools. "Advertising keeps kids from learning the things they really need to learn -- that's the problem of commercialism," he says.

And according to Mary Ellen Fise, general counsel for the Consumers Federation of America, parents need to discuss advertising with their children "as soon as kids can start talking about what they see on television." Says Fise, "Statistics show that kids tend to believe most of what they see on TV."

Zillions, which primarily targets 8- to 14-year-olds, has a circulation of 350,000. About 250,000 copies are home subscriptions; the remaining 100,000 are distributed at no charge to schoolchildren in low-income areas.

Each issue starts off with a page of questions and correspondence from savvy child consumers. In the July/August issue, for example, Lena Eson of Delmar, N.Y., writes: "In my family, we buy economy-size bottles of noname sunscreen and pour it into empty, smaller sunscreen bottles. It's cheaper to buy the economy size, and it's a great way of recycling the smaller bottles."

Each issue of Zillions also includes a section called "Tough Questions" in which children ask for advice about their problems -- a sort of Dear Abby for kids. One child writes, "I want to dye part of my hair green, but my parents won't let me. Do you think they should?" The answer: There are better ways to demonstrate individuality. Your parents care about you.

Thousands of kids also compete in an annual essay contest to become members of the Z team, a group of 100 children around the country who test various products for the magazine. These young testers participate for one year, evaluating CDs, in-line skates, sneakers, board games, fast food and other products.

In the June 1996 issue, one Z team member from Michigan wrote a scathing review of his local Denny's restaurant. "Straw wrappers, pieces of napkins and crumbs of smashed food were strewn about the floor. And we had to wait 25 minutes for our food," complained Brian Gallagher.

The magazine has won accolades, including several Parent's Choice awards and the 1993 Golden Lamp Award, the highest honor bestowed by the educational press. "We are consistently trying to get kids to talk things over with their parents, to see the advantages of compromise and negotiation," says Baecher, adding, "We avoid preaching to kid."