Marketing To Children Essay

Commercials through television and radio aimed towards children are ethical because it helps build healthy ideals. Through commercials, children can see that doing certain things are good for you! They can see that it is what they should do. “Advertising and marketing techniques could encourage children to eat

Advertisements are everywhere. They are a major part of modern day society. Whether it be a television commercial, an internet banner, or a billboard, advertisements influence people of all ages, but they affect a certain age group much more than others. Children ranging from toddlers to teenagers are exposed to thousands upon thousands of advertisements each year. Some of these advertisements are damaging to children, while others are a positive influence. Advertisements can either be used as a tool or a weapon. Food advertisements and manipulation strategies are both positive and negative, and how companies use them decides whether or not marketing to children is ethical.

Although adults can view food advertisements critically to diminish their intended effects on their diet, Mello, Studdert, and Brennan found that children do not have this same cognitive ability (2605). They found that children under eight years of age are “generally unable to understand the persuasive intent of advertising” (2601). This means that children aged seven and under may not be able to distinguish the difference between when they are being marketed to and when they are being educated, for instance. This is likely the reason why “children who watch more television than do other children are more likely to identify incorrectly which of two foods is more healthful” (Mello, Studdert, and Brennan 2605). Studies have found that around 50% of “all nutrition-related information in television advertisements is misleading or inaccurate” (Mello, Studdert, and Brennan 2605). The food industry’s advertising practices are deceitful and harmful, yet they are not currently subject to legal

According to a news report on MSNBC “TV ads contribute to childhood obesity” by News Correspondent Tracie Potts (2005), “the Institute of Medicine said television advertising strongly influences what children under 12 eat”. This quote suggests that children are easily influence by what they see on television and it reflects in what they eat. Animated characters that all children readily know are used to promote unhealthy food choices, such as junk food or fast food. It has become the norm for fast food companies to advertise to the younger crowd promoting toys in kids' meals or bigger portions for the teenage population. Kids are more concerned with getting a toy than they are at eating a healthy meal full of fruits and vegetables that their growing bodies’ need. Parents are giving into their children about fast food or junk food, because they don't want to seem like bad parents or have their children throwing a fit in public; so instead of cooking a meal at home that is healthy and nutrition packed, they settle for the quick option of fast food or junk food which is loaded up on fats and sugars. Many parents as well do not know the food pyramid and what exactly their children are to be eating on a daily basis, and this result has caused our nation to be on the rise with children who are considered obese, not only due to their weight, but mainly due to their BMI. Body

In the recent years, the amount of money fast food industries spent on marketing and advertising to adolescents is astounding. According to Yale news article by Megan Orciari, in 2012 the food industry has spent over $4.6 billion in advertising unhealthy products to children. “Most advertising promotes unhealthy regular menu items and often takes unfair advantage of young people’s vulnerability to marketing, making it even tougher for parents to raise healthy children.” One of the largest children advertiser is McDonald, McDonald spent 2.7 times more than other advertisers combined to market their products to children and teens. With such investment fast food industries insure advertisements are placed

Advertisers have been marketing food to children on television since the first television broadcasts started. The effect of their marketing non-nutrient dense food to children has not had a positive result. The Federal Trade Commission’s report, Advertising to kids and the FCT: A regulatory retrospective that advises the present, reports that 50% of overweight kids become overweight adults. The report also states that 80% of obese adolescents will become overweight adults. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of overweight children ages 6-11 has more than doubled, while the rate for adolescents has tripled since 1980” (FTC, n.d.). According to a data brief from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 16.9% of U.S. children and adolescents in 2009-2010 were obese (Ogden, 2012). The data brief also stated that adolescent obesity rates were higher than obesity in preschool-aged children. Among adolescents, boys experienced a higher rate of obesity (18.6%) than girls (15.0%).

According to the Prevention Institute, since 2010 fast food and junk food industries are spending about $5 million every day marketing unhealthy foods to children. More than 95% of all food advertisements being viewed by children, are about products that are high in fat, sugar and sodium. Since children are the most vulnerable, industries are aiming their advertisements to children through television, the internet, posters or billboards or any other media source possible. Not only are these foods being promoted in public areas where children can see them, but they are also being promoted inside of schools. Most schools are making money out of this easy business by selling big industry products that are said to be healthy for their students. These healthy products are known for example to be low in fat potato chips, ice cream and even low in sugar soda. In reality these products being sold are more sugar-filled, rather than with nutrients to enhance students health. This is causing students to gain weight and develop diseases such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes, that was never seen before among children and teenagers. These corporations are hiding the real facts from people and are tricking people into buying their new “healthy” and renovated products. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention department, currently obesity is affecting 1 in 6 children and adolescents in the United States. This results to approximately 17% (or 12.7 million) of children and

In this section, I summarize the major argument and findings of the author(s) from the first article that I reviewed. It discusses the health effects that are related to consumption of high calorie foods that are nutritionally deficient foods. Overweight children are at risk of asthma, hypertension and even diabetes type 2 which was primarily found in adults (Linn and Novosat, 2008). According to a research done by the authors, they found that television advertising influences their food and beverage requests. This study suggests that over 30% of American children are overweight or obese. The main purpose of the article is to find the relationship between consumption of empty calorie foods and food marketing. Food and beverage advertisers spend between 10-15 billion dollars a year on advertisements to target children and youth. Out of the foods that are marketed and bought by these age groups, the four categories leading in sales are candy, and snack foods, soft drinks, fast food, and cereal. In a study that was done to find the influence of fast foods on kids of age three to five, they found that children preferred nuggets, fries, milk, and carrots that was wrapped in McDonald’s wrappers over unbranded wrapping. This study concluded that there is a strong influence of market branding among preschoolers. Print screen, digital advertisements, as well as marketing in schools makes it difficult for parents to make changes in the children’s exposure to food marketing. When high

Too many of America’s children are overweight or obese. One in six American children are overweight or obese. Obesity can lead to a lifetime of health issues, including but not limited to, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Advertisements for sugary drinks and junk food that is marketed to children, mostly on television, have been proven to be the main cause of childhood obesity. That is why advertisers should not market unhealthy sugary drinks and junk food to children on television because this directly leads to obesity. Parents can limit the viewing of unhealthy food commercials, communities can boycott unhealthy food products, lawmakers can give the FTC and FCC more power to regulate these types of commercials, and all food companies can unanimously decide on the same rules for self-regulation, these are all steps toward decreasing the amount of overweight and obese children in America.

[Start with general statement (i.e. food marketing is a 25 billion dollar industry)]Some of the most significant problems in today's society surround food. People are rushing to solve problems such as obesity, cancer, heart disease, among other things, all of which are caused by unhealthy food. Unhealthy food is strongly marketed towards children, as well as teenage consumers, and is extremely prominent in their daily lives. With that prominence, comes influence in eating habits, as well as the choices people make when it comes to food, which in turn affects their health. This raises the question of how food advertisements target youth, and to what extent the advertisements affect their eating habits as well as their mental and physical health. When looking through a marketing lens, food advertising is extremely influential in changing the diets of teenagers by use of differing marketing techniques that impact their choices in food.

Food ads on television make up 50 percent of all the ad time on children’s shows. These ads are almost completely dominated by unhealthy food products (34 percent for

First, influence from food advertisements can have an effect on childhood eating habits today. Kids see 10 to 13 food advertisements a day, on average. Of these advertisements, 90% of them are considered unhealthy (Kohn). In addition, the American Psychological Association found that kids that are under age 6 “...cannot distinguish between programming and advertising...” and that children under the age of 8 “...do not understand the persuasive intent of advertising.” This means that children are more sensitive to the effects of food advertisements when compared to adults. These sensitivities were even more prevalent in a study by Elsevier Health Sciences. In the study, kids were more likely to

More recently, Caroli et al. (2004) offered supporting evidence that exposure to diverse media content which includes food advertising was of great influence on children’s eating habits. Henderson and Kelly (2005), established children’s frequent exposure to TV snack and enticing fast-food advertising as very are important factors in that contribute to them developing unhealthy eating habits that could result in obesity. Concern about food advertising directed toward children, estimated to be more than $1.6 billion per year annually (FTC 2008), has grown, along with the incidence of childhood obesity, which has tripled in the past three decades (Harris et al. 2009).

* Promotional toys either tie in to cartoons, TV shows and movies or promote brand consciousness and loyalty.

If this proved to be true, children would be much less likely to request certain food products that are not good for their health. The study suggests that the effects of advertisements can be reduced if an adult who is also watching the advertisements properly mediates the children. It also investigates three effects of advertising including children’s liking, desires, and intended requests for products advertised. The conclusion was that the factual mediation by adults was not effective and only made the children like the products advertised less than they did before. Although the children could understand and learn from the factual comments, they could not apply their cognitive defenses and understand the commercial at the same time. According to Fosu, Warren, Wicks, and Wicks (2009), disclaimer plugs such as “part of this nutritious breakfast” could educate children about nutrition and decrease childhood obesity. Desrochers and Holt (2007) claimed that the authors of a study “concluded that television advertising specifically targeted to children is fundamentally unfair, because of young children’s limited comprehension of the nature and purpose of television advertising, and therefore warrants governmental action” (p. 184). Advertising to children can be unfair because advertisements can manipulate children. They are