海角大神

Mark Wahlberg has been named the host of the 2014 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, leaving parents to deal with the issues of his inappropriate filmography and the expected hype for his upcoming role in the fourth Transformers film.

Seeing the news, I wondered which role landed Mr. Wahlberg the job hosting a show with a demographic of children ages 2 to 11. Was it the bloody action thriller聽"Lone Survivor"聽or the one with a teddy bear (in the film "Ted") that spews obscenities while acting like a porn star?

Last year, Nickelodeon was the top cable network with kids ages 2-11 (3.1/1.0 million; +24%) and total viewers (2.0 million; +27%). Nickelodeon鈥檚 2013 Kids鈥� Choice Awards managed to garner 12 million total viewers, according to the website.

I like Wahlberg, but wonder what the folks over at Nickelodeon could have been thinking when they selected him to host a show for that age bracket.

Then, I read further into the news stories and found that Wahlberg will star in聽Michael Bay's "Transformers: Age of Extinction,"聽in theaters June 27. The film is expected to be rated PG-13, like all the others in the franchise.

A recent study published by Common Sense Media about kids ad viewing, which I wrote about just a few days ago, takes a hard look at how advertisers are 鈥渆xposing kids to product placement in popular TV shows.鈥�

The study, released last week, points to Nielsen data estimating kids ages 2-11 see approximately聽24,000 ads per year, which聽seems enormous even before you聽realize that it doesn't count all the product placement in shows (i.e. "American Idol" judges drinking Cokes), embedded plugs in scripts of TV and films, or online ads woven into gaming experiences.聽

For me, what stands out here is that the age 2-11 demographic mentioned in the study is the exact same viewership age spread as Nickelodeon viewers.

I鈥檓 a mom, so I don鈥檛 believe in coincidences. I believe everything happens for a reason, and in this case, the reason seems to be to get kids to nag parents to go see the new Transformers film.

According to a video produced by Anna Lapp茅聽for the watchdog group Corporate Accountability International, when it comes to kids nagging their parents to buy them something 鈥� from a new toy to a Happy Meal at McDonald's 鈥� research shows, 鈥淚t takes an average of nine nags for a typical parent to cave-in and buy a product.鈥�

Funny, I always though of nagging as my job.

According to Ms. Lapp茅, the way companies get kids to make those 鈥渘ine nags鈥� is to come at them early and often, blitzing them by placing products in television shows, similar to placing a non-kids film star into the role of hosting the large kid-focused awards show on television.

Our kids don鈥檛 know Mark Wahlberg today, but by June (when the film releases) I predict they will be nagging us for toys they just suddenly find they can鈥檛 live without from a PG-13 movie that it鈥檚 unlikely we will even take them to see.

This morning, I asked Caroline Knorr, Common Sense Media's parenting editor, about her thoughts on Wahlberg as host.聽Ms. Knorr responded in e-mail, "There's an age-disconnect. The advice for parents is if your young kids become interested in seeing age-inappropriate movies because they like the actors in them (having been exposed to those actors through age-appropriate means, i.e. the Kids' Choice Awards) your job becomes tougher."聽

"You really have to research those movies to see if they are OK for your kids, based on your own values 鈥� not what's being marketed to them,"聽she added.聽"In the end, you may just have to say, 鈥榥o, not yet.鈥� 鈥�

Common Sense's 聽has age reviews on films to help parents make better informed choices.

Still, young kids will likely know the film鈥檚 鈥渂est鈥� lines by heart from TV and online commercials.

I鈥檝e seen this happen with my son Quin, 10, who has not yet seen the new 鈥淟ego Movie鈥� but can tell me his favorite line.

I can tell you right now, Quin will not be watching this year鈥檚 Kids鈥� Choice Awards with Wahlberg. That鈥檚 partially because of the ad blitz, and because when he doesn鈥檛 know something or recognize a celebrity, he Googles them or looks for their work on YouTube.

I have already suffered through the horror of having my 10-year-old look up TED Talks, the brilliant educational series of videos and find clips from the Wahlberg film 鈥淭ed鈥� instead.

Oh, for the days when the Kids鈥� Choice Awards made good choices.

I am sure there was plenty of marketing drive behind the choices of previous hosts such as Will Smith and Jack Black, but at least they were already known for kid-friendly film work.

Will Smith, who hosted in 2012, voiced 鈥淪hark Tale鈥� and is the father of 鈥�The Karate Kid,鈥� Jaden Smith.

Jack Black is the lovable Po in 鈥淜ung Fu Panda鈥� and so ran the show in 2011.

Josh Duhamel, who starred in the Transformers franchise from 2007-11 served as the 2013 host, which may have opened the door for Wahlberg's entrance as host.

I will not be surprised if the Kids鈥� Choice Awards show is heavily targeted with Transformers promo talk by the host, franchise toy ads, and film trailers on the commercial breaks or even during the show itself.

As a parent it鈥檚 my job to stay on top of the tactics used by companies to manipulate my child.

Also, it鈥檚 the parent鈥檚 job to nag, and no advertising agency bent on selling my child a burger, toy, or film is going to change who鈥檚 in charge of that in my house.