Review of Research Literature: Health Effects of Advertisements on Children

Children are easily influenced, and this can be taken advantage of in the commercial industry. Thy have the desire to fit in and do what is considered “cool”. Many people believe that people use this desire to their own benefit in order to create profit. While it’s true children are easily manipulated by commercials, these commercials and be beneficial to the child's development. Commercials can be used to bring good ideas and good life skills to children that will lead them to being a successful adults. Commercials aimed at children are ethical because they can reinforce positive behaviors and good ideals. This is shown through articles, press and reports.

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.

Television ads are arguably the most influential form of advertisement for fast food chains considering the fact that there 115.6 million TV homes in the United States, and over half of these homes have at least three TV’s. Today’s children spend on average of 44.5 hours a week in front of some type of screen whether its computer, TV or cellphone. More than any other activity in their lives other than sleeping (American Physiological Association). It has been discovered that children under the age of eight have difficulties telling apart programming and advertising and do not understand the persuasive techniques used on them, making them the main target for fast food companies. By incorporating famous people in TV commercials, people of all ages are tricked into thinking that if they copy the actions of the famous than it is acceptable to give

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 rate of obesity in children has nearly tripled in the last quarter century”(American Psychological Association). Children receive the most exposure to advertisements due to the amount of television they watch and online games they play. At an early age, children shape their first opinions on what they like and dislike, so just by watching advertisements they can develop product preferences for unhealthy foods that lead to poor eating habits. “In very young children, research has found that for every one-hour increase in television viewing per day, there are higher intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, fast food, red and processed meat, and overall calories”(American Psychological Association). Advertisements targeted at children use colorful images and characters to attract them to their products and add labels like “multi grain,” “no sugar added,” and “all natural” to influence parents to buy their products. But most of these food claims are unregulated and open to abuse. “Approximately 20 percent of our youth are now overweight with obesity rates in preschool age children increasing at alarming speed”(American Psychological Association). Naturally, being obese as children puts them at risk of being obese as adults, which can lead to health problems such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some forms of cancer. In addition, advertising causes

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.

First off, marketing to children has become a favored way for companies to succeed in earning money. Since marketing to children has become an efficient way for companies to get children to buy their products, the income of the amount of money companies make from children has dramatically increased throughout the years. To illustrate, in ‘’Study Shows Fast Food Companies Aggressively Market to Kids, Minorities’’ to explain the amount of money marketers spend on marketing to children, Wartman states ‘’Indeed, the $4.2 billion dollars spent in 2009 on advertising by the fast food industry is working… 40 percent of parents report that their children ask to go to McDonald’s at least once a week and 15 percent of preschoolers ask to go every day’’ (Wartman). In this quotation, it is clear that companies are wealthy, they spend an excessive amount of money only to provide advertisements. This technique of advertising works well since it is proven that children want to go to McDonald’s every day, that is because McDonald’s

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.

Children, however, are more susceptible to media influence because they are more naive. Due to this naivety, children are not aware of the truth behind many things and will believe most anything one tells them, making them perfect targets for advertisements. Fast food companies, particularly McDonald’s, target children through Happy Meals. Cereal companies target children with cute mascots and toys inside the box. A company who took an alternative route to market to children was Kraft and their product, Lunchables. Kraft knew that ultimately, parents were deciding what their children were to eat at lunch and decided to market especially to busy mothers. The parents bought Lunchables for the conveniency but also because their children genuinely like the product. The procedure of appealing to parents in order to market to children is not a new concept however. “Kraft’s early Lunchables campaign targeted mothers. They might be too distracted by work to make a lunch, but they loved their kids enough to offer them this prepackaged gift,” (Moss 268). Parents, eager to please their children, will then buy the food products that their children want, which is not always healthy and this is where the addiction starts. People, including children fall into routines; at lunch time, children want their regular Lunchables. If not given these food products, a “temper tantrum” will ensue or they simply will not eat what they are

The following is my view on ads targetting children. I believe that unhealthy food ads can be harmful to children. On the other hand, healthy food ads can be helpful to children. Lastly I will offer my solution for a comprimise for both passages. My beliefs for both and my solution are explained below.

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

In “Facts about marketing to children” it said “More than half of the children surveyed (53%) said that buying certain products make them feel better about themselves”. The average American child watches nearly 40,000 television ads a year. More than 10 percent of 12-13 have admitted they

Fast food promotions appear frequently on programs for preschool children, representing 100% of food-related promotional messages on Playhouse Disney, 59% on PBS Kids, and 46% on Nick Junior in one study.… evidence has suggested direct correlations between food advertising and children's purchase requests, brand preferences, consumption behavior, and overall nutritional intake…. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) concluded that young children are cognitively defenseless against advertising messages, frequently accepting advertising claims at face value. (Warren, et al.

I am responding to a group presentation that I gave with Konnor Miller and Sephora Mentado over Analyzing Children Commercials and Advertising. The three of us gave this presentation on Tuesday, November 24th before Thanksgiving break. We started off our presentation by playing part of a short YouTube video on the effects of commercial advertising on children. This video showed how most young children are unaware of the amount of advertising they are exposed to, or do not recognize what advertising is at all. The video went on to show how children are able to remember commercials and products while forgetting important political figures such as the president. It also listed

The government should exercise more control and limits on advertising that is aimed at children. Children are the leaders of the future and the children watch on average two or more hours of television a day. These are children’s most formative years. When children form ideas that prove to be substance of how they will think as adults.