Negative Effects Of Advertising On Children

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.

The advertising of foods and beverages targeted at children in Canada is a major cost for concern and policy makers should be taking a critical look at it. Restricting the marketing of foods and beverages targeted at children is a cost efficient way of implementing a population base intervention to combat childhood obesity (Raine, Lobstein Landon, Kent, Pellerin, Caulfield, Finegood, Mongeau, Neary & Spence, 2013). The World Health Organization (WHO) and other International bodies such as the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) have set tough recommendations for countries to follow to restrict the advertising of food and beverages to children (Raine, Lobstein Landon, Kent, Pellerin, Caulfield, Finegood, Mongeau, Neary & Spence, 2013). These recommendations outline several empirical evidences which serve as the paradigm for policy makers to act on and protect children from being targeted by advertising companies. The empirical evidences suggest children lack the knack to cognitively understand the persuasive intent of advertising companies (Raine et al, 2013). Food advertising companies envision children as susceptible and therefore adopt means and ways to lure them into buying their wares. Popular cartoon and

The article picked for my group’s media analysis presentation talks about advertising to children. This article was produced by the Sudbury Star and targeted to the people of Sudbury. While reading through the article, it was clear that there were some biases as it referred to Sudbury as the “fattest cities” (in-text citation) in Ontario. Also, there were recent findings from the Health of Canadians 2017 report. The statistics in this article reveal that children view about twenty-five million food and beverage advertisements per year (in-text citation). The sad thing about this fact is that most parents are unaware of the amount of exposure their children have. While kids are grocery shopping with their parents they have an advantage known

When did marketing to children become business as usual? The marketing for children has increased since the 1980’s. They begun a cradle to death campaign. Advertising has brought many negative effects on to the children of the United States of America.

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.

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.

In the US, it is estimated that the average child is exposed to more than 40,000 advertisements each year, while $12 billion is spent by advertisers to reach this youth market. (APA.org) Since children are the world’s most enthusiastic consumers of marketing, the effect of advertisements is a concern for their parents across the country. Such exposure has been proven to contribute significantly to childhood obesity. Even though obesity rates are at a record high, children continue to be overwhelmed with marketing for foods high in fat, sugar, salt, and calories. Since children are the focal point for intense advertising, parents should teach them to be more media-aware.

In today’s society, everyone is familiar with the enjoyable commercials of junk food products that can be seen anywhere on television, and on America’s most anticipated sporting event each year: the Superbowl. However, these advertisements are convincing people to buy into unhealthy food products, which can lead to many health challenges for many people. Many marketing gimmicks are used by companies to appeal to several different social groups, yet children are targeted with food advertisement far more than anyone else. Companies such as Coca Cola and McDonald’s are able to entice millions of people across the world, and all due to how they construct their advertisements. Because of these companies, many people are caused illness and obesity,

Companies spent over $17 billion in 2011 just for advertising to children.Companies fail to acknowledge the harm they are doing to children and are taking advantage of children’s inability to identify when and how they are being manipulated. Eight to Twelve year olds see twenty-one ads or more per day on over fifty hours and forty-eight minutes watching ads per year noted in an article in American Psychological Association called “The Impact of Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity . There are fast food problems associated with kids being exposed to advertising.

Food advertisements are being very creative with their commercials on television and billboards all around the US. With no doubt they are catching people’s attention, mainly children and adolescents. All the beautiful bright colors a commercial has and the price they are offering makes a good deal to a family. Once they see that they automatically have to get it, because of course it is way cheaper than a salad and other healthier foods. Marketers do this, with the intention of getting consumers hands on their product. Although they spend tons of dollars for a commercial, they will still do it because one way or another they are getting profit from it. All those commercials that have been in trend and that will be in trend, are affecting children

Fast food advertisement agencies take advantage of the ignorance of children to scam them into wanting unhealthy meals. Each year, the fast food industry spends over $3 million of advertising targeted towards children. Half of television advertisement is used during children’s shows and with cartoons. Out of all the factors

Pollay (1986) had suggested that advertisements are very persuasive and use stereotypical portrayals when using sexual content and therefore, those adverts have a way of manipulating the consumer by using sex appeals. Those advertisements use fantasies and illusions to draw the buyer in rather than the reality to manipulate the buyer into wanting things that they in reality may not need in the first place. (Klempner, 2004, Zailckas, 2006). Younger people are harder to connect with so adverts need such content to draw the younger viewers in (Strasburge and Donnerstein, 1999).

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

Advertising, for years, has been under criticism for the unethical messages they send out to, not only the public, but specifically young children. The effect of advertising on children’s minds is, and should be, a main concern for our country. According to Television Watching Statistics, kids in the U.S. watch an estimated 16,000 television commercials a year. Much deception can be cognitively consumed from that amount of advertising. Intense marketing affects people of all ages but targeting children is easier as it can mold a child’s mind and warp their desires. Everything from junk food, alcohol and tobacco products, unrealistic body types, to lack of impulse control can be instilled into a young, undeveloped mind which is why advertisers need to take responsibility for the content they publish.

In 1983, companies spent $100 million marketing to kids. Today, they 're spending nearly $17 billion annually. That 's more than double what it was in 1992 (Lagorio, 2007). Lawlor and Prothero (2002) cited recent numbers for the spending influence of children up to twelve years in the United States. These children controlled spending of $28 billion in 2000 from their own allowances and earnings, and also they influenced $250 billion of family spending. (Oates, Blades & Gunter, 2003). In this paper, it will being explaining what social problems are caused when children are marketed to and what we can do to stop it. I argue that marketing to children is a problem because it causes children to be obese from food commercials and ads, they