Assess The Influence Of Advertising On Children

Marketing to children is not a new phenomenon; however, there have been many ethical debates on its rightness; is advertising to children a gentle persuasion of the innocent or a sinister threat to our society? There’s too much as stake if we remain silent and simply assume that marketing companies have our children’s best interests at heart; the truth is they don’t. This paper will explore to implications of marketing to children and the overall effects it has on our society. I will argue that advertising to children is a social problem. In the first part of my paper I will discuss why advertising to children is ethically wrong, I will then discuss what has changed; this will be followed by a discussion as to why it is a social problem and finally, I will conclude my paper by discussing what should be done to change it. Please note this paper is written in the first person as I have children and I have a vested interest in this topic.

According to Advertising to Children in Canada: a Reference Guide published by Canadian advertisement regulatory boards, Canada has one of the “most comprehensive and complete systems of codes and standards for responsible advertising to children” (p. 3); it is even stated that other countries use Canada’s regulations as a prime example for structuring advertisement laws in their own legal systems. These regulations are constantly reviewed to assure that they are up to date with Canadian values, the main concern being the safety of the youngest members of our population (Advertising to Children). The boards that determine these regulations are not only comprised of the businesses that profit from these advertisements, but general members of

Isis used the internet to target three teenage girls from Britain, who may have traveled to Syria to join. Isis is using children and young adults in untruthful advertisement in order to draw other children into their group especially young girls. In one posted video, it shows young boys dressed in military attire and Isis bandanas learning hand-to-hand combat. These young boys are known as the “Cubs of the Caliphate” (http://wgno.com).

Kraak and Story (2015) used three cartoon media characters to assess the recognition of popular characters and relationship to taste and snack preference for potato chips, crackers, and baby carrots. The media characters used in the study were Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants©, Warner Brothers Entertainment’s Pink Panther©, and El Chavo©. The study found: 1) a high recognition of familiar media characters (92-98%) among the children, 2) the use of familiar licensed character on food packaging increased children’s taste and snack preferences, and 3) younger children (4-6 years) were more likely to prefer a food with a licensed media character compared with older children (7-11 years). Intervention students associated healthful behaviors for dietary intake and being physically active with the messaging and images of the university school mascot used in the social marketing

To ban or not to ban, that is the question in this case. I was acually watching this television show the other day and on it, there was a little boy watching T.V. when a commercial for a stuffed animal came on. Instead of hearing what the commercial was actually saying, all it showed was the stuffed animal trying to convince the little boy to get his parents to buy it. The little boy then, would not stop asking his parents until they finally got it for him. So maybe, it's not just the ads fault, it could be also the way most parents comply when their child begs for something. In this essay, I'm going to show alternative methods to keeping kids healthy and creating a better place for them to grow up in, rather than just blaming and/or banning the advertisements.

What kind of ads do you see on TV nowadays? Ads for fast-food, ads for flashy clothes and material objects that are not nessecary for everyday life. But someone who doesn't know any better, say a child, might feel as if he or she needs these objects to live a good life. In these advertisements, they show people wearing these flashy clothes or eating this fast-food junk, and they show them as very happy and succsessful. What child would not want that? It sends a message to them that is wrong, and we need to acknowledge that these ads are infact affecting our children and how they view the world around them.

I myself, with children of my own, dissagree with the idea that advertisment is bad for kids. I do agree that some ads are inapropriate and shouldn't be on a station that the kids look at often. I also agree that children should be tought to make decitions based on what they know to be true or false. I believe that children of a understanding age, should be aloud to see the bad, within reason of course, in order for them to be able to determine for themselves good ads and bad ads.

Today, we live in a society that is ruled by multiple forms of media, and where there is media there are advertisements. According to the market research company Yankelovich, the average person is exposed to about 5,000 advertisements and brands per day (Walker-Smith, 2014). The exposure to such advertisements have caused a detrimental effect on young people, such as the influence of what the perfect body looks like. Today commercials showcase unrealistic versions of the average male and female, causing an increase in eating disorders each year. Advertisements also influence young people by convincing them that it is okay to drink and that there will be no consequences. Advertisements do not show the long term effects that can happen to an individual when they start abusing alcohol; such as the need for blood transfusions or having seizures. They only show the scene where people seem to be having more fun with an alcoholic beverage in their hand. Advertisements also play a role in the food choices young people make. Most food advertisements appear on children and teen oriented shows; and the advertisements they show are unhealthy for young people to consume. Those advertisements are a contributing factor to childhood obesity that may later become adulthood obesity. Which goes to show the enormous impact advertisements play in the way society views beauty, alcohol, and food choices; creating detrimental effects on young people’s

Abstract Previous studies have suggested that advertising exposure affects materialistic orientations among youth. However, this causal effect has not been investigated among 8- to 11-year olds, who are in the midst of consumer development. Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying this relation have not been studied. In order to fill these lacunae, this study focused on the longitudinal relation between children’s advertising exposure and materialism. We investigated two possible mediators: advertised product

Food advertisements, if focused at the right people and in the right places, are a complete success. These features, some of which are commercials, seduce society into buying food that we necessarily do not need. Many advertisement companies, especially those about food, are directed to children because they know that if you grab the kids you have their parents. While brands are using fun cartoons like “Trix Rabbit” and “Toucan Sam” (Green, 2007, p. 49) supermarkets are taking these items and placing them right in front of the children, at their level, advertising the “Fun foods” (Elliot, 2008, p. 259-273). They do this so the kids will use their, “pester power” (Scholsser, n.d., p. 2) to get what they want. A series of studies have been performed on children and television advertisements. An article states, “These studies have generally linked children's television viewing to negative health effects” (Korr, 2008, p. 451). Amongst these negative effects is a higher level of childhood obesity (p. 451). Similarly, in another study performed by a group of researchers, kids were asked to explain the television commercials that they remembered the best. The answers given were then compared with their diets. Interestingly, the items those children remembered best, chips, sweets, and sodas were a huge part of what they ate (Hitching & Moynihan, 1998, p. 511-517). However, some authors argue that television producer’s, even though their

Kids are affected by the advertisements that they see and/or hear. According to Marketing to kids get more savvy with new technologies kids are affected by advertisement. They say that the point is to keep a kid engaged so that shopping is enjoyable and that kids are looking for entertainment when they go to the mall. This source is a very reliable source. It shows why children are affected by advertising and much more.

The commercials feature animated characters selling fast food kid meals. Children relate with the cartoon characters and want to eat the foods that are being promoted. Children receive the message that fast food is good for them, and do not understand that eating too much fast food can be unhealthy for them. Unfortunately the message from this type of advertising is geared toward the child thinking I need to have the fast food. This is a bad message to leave in children?s minds, because it can also cause problems with their health. The obesity rate in young children has risen drastically over the last twenty years. Health reports have attributed this to the continuing increase in the amount of fast food children are consuming. Television commercials for fast food are on every channel, and the number of channels has risen over the last twenty years. Children who watch television are exposed to a non-stop borage of commercials. This continual exposure promotes a cycle of the child always wanting to go to the fast food restaurants. Parents also are affected by the commercials. Their children want to eat fast food, and the fast food is very convenient for busy families. It is much easier to go through a drive-thru and order the food, then to cook the meal at home. This can be a harmful pattern for the family to establish. Convenience over a more healthy home cooked meal adds to the childhood obesity

As citizens in the modern world, we are used to being bombarded with over 3,000 advertisements over the course of our day (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2006). Advertisements are so common that we often do not realize we are viewing them. Originally, an advertisement was a way to reach the world. In the early days of television, the programming had to be entertaining for many demographics, because there were only a few channels that targeted a mass audience. During this time, a focus was not placed on audience segmentation, because there were not enough media channels to segment an audience. Today, audiences are segmented through all forms of media. Through this increased segmentation,

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Everyday, American youth turn on the TV, grab their iPad, or access the internet. Immediately they are exposed to advertising. Young people view more than 40,000 ads per year on television alone and increasingly are being exposed to advertising on the internet, in magazines, and in schools.1 Advertising has become a hot topic in recent years as more and more ads are targeting younger audiences. Often, parents are not aware that their child is being saturated with advertising nearly every hour of the day. Those parents who attempt to limit their child’s exposure can only do so much as advertisers look for new avenues. As a result of continuous advertising, youth are essentially being brainwashed into believing everything advertised is true. Today’s youth are being bombarded with advertising that is leading to an increase in substance abuse, higher obesity rates, and a false body image.