Social Influence of Television Advertisement on Children a Case Study of Selected Primary Schools in Somolu Local Government Area

A website, Journal of Mass Communication, states that, “63% have their own television set.” This is talking about 7-year-olds and how 63% of them have television sets. Children at the age of 7 are being affected by these advertisements. Also, the Journal of Mass Communication says that, “A young child who is as young as three year can’t understand the selling motive of the advertiser it is not until 8 years of age…” This shows at a young age that children are becoming a target for the advertising companies. When these kids watch these ads they want to have whatever they see which makes them want to have a high social

He thinks the guidelines on nutrition and marketing are so restrictive that it’s supported by flawed data and omit the significant, positive improvements food and marketing industries are taking. For example, the marketing industry established the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), which screens material that may be misleading and receives comments and concerns from the public for the past thirty years (336). The author states CSPI mentioned a claim that marketing targeted at kids has doubled in the last ten years, but neglects to explain food ads seen by children under the age of twelve declined by 13% in the last four years. Liodice insinuates CSPI’s narrow focus solely on food marketing misguides the public when other factors come into play because “there is no simple or quick answer to this multifaceted challenge,” as the Surgeon General concluded (337).

Several tv shows today have a negative influence on younger children for this reason perents should be wary of what their children watch on the televion. today many people think that show spongebob is a great show for children ,however the show spongebob encourages kids to make terrible decigions .for instance the eposide when Patrick wanted to act like the life guard larry and then persuaded spongebob to make bizzare and drastic stunts. This eposiod is a bad influence because it can cause kids to partisapat in dangers activaties . anthoner tv show that has a negativeinflunce on kids is rabbits invasion,the show does not help kids inprove or develop their national landuege since they talk in a wierd language in the show for example one

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.

Children under the age of six “cannot distinguish between advertisements and regular programming” and those under eight “do not comprehend the persuasive nature of advertisements” (American Psychological Association). Children have a remarkable ability to remember content from ads that they have been exposed to (American Psychological Association). “Research has found strong associations between increases in advertising in non-nutritious food and rates of childhood obesity” (American Psychological Association). During on study researchers looked at the effect of branding, the research used children 3 to 5 years old, two portions of identical foods were given, one in McDonald’s wrapping and the other not in the wrapping, the children would say that the food in the McDonald’s wrapper tasted better (Klass). This study shows how children are being influenced by what advertisements they view. In young children, research has shown “that for every one-hour increase in [television] viewing per day, there are high intakes of … fast food …” (American Psychological Association). And with children who “watch more than 3 hours of television a day are 50 percent more likely to become obese…” (American Psychological

A decrease in physical activity due to the countless hours of television they are watching, as well as an interference with normal sleep patterns. Unhealthy eating habits can be learned from children television programs or advertising for unhealthy foods. “Each year kids see more than 10,000 food ads on TV alone, almost all for items like soft drinks, fast foods and sugared cereals” (Are You Responsible for Your Own Weight?). Although the connection between food marketing and childhood obesity has yet to be fully established, the federal government can take steps to help improve the media to promote healthier lifestyles for children to

Advertisements, they grab your attention and keep it. Of course, they are made for the working class who can spend their money to buy the product however, children can also be targeted by ads. According to the online news company Cracked the average American child watches 16,000 ads every year on TV alone, and in the U.S “children spend $30 billion annually and they directly influence an additional $250 billion in family spending.” The scary part is the advertisement industry is self-regulating and there are barely any restrictions! The Tabaco companies are in a massive industry worldwide and you can find Cigarette ads all around you. If you look closer next time you’re at a gas station or a quick-stop store, you’ll see an ad for cigarettes.

In 2012 it was estimated that children spent over two hundred and eleven billion dollars because of ads. Advertisers like to target towards children because they know that children 8-10 are more vulnerable and want anything they see on tv so it's safe to say advertisers lead kids to make poor choices. Advertisers make over half a billion dollars a year, 50% of that is from targeting to children. Not only do ads lead kids to make poor choices , but it could lead to: injury or obesity.

The comprehensive assortment of convenient processed foods high in sugar, salt and fat, frequently marketed in large serving sizes with excessive sides, has ultimately made selecting healthy eating choices more difficult for the average consumer and policymakers. Various health experts maintain the onslaught of advertising and promotion surreptitiously and unfavourably influencing ingestion patterns and food partialities of individuals further complicates the issue. There has been substantial encouragement, which has pressured governments and politicians to implement restrictions on the publicising of unhealthy foods, particularly those targeting children. (Jolly, R. 2011)

Advertising causes American children to be greedy. Because advertising tells children they should value the latest, nosiest, and flashiest stuff on television. Because children spend a great deal of time in front of the television, children's behaviors and attitudes have become materialistic and self-centered. The child like faces, bright colors, and child's voices on television holds the children captive. Any means of suggestion are readily followed.

Over the years, children have been lacking in good health, mainly due to media. Everywhere a child goes, they will always be shown an advertisement. The biggest type of advertisement that impacts a child’s physical health is related to food. According to the Royal College of Physicians, obesity rates have increase significantly among youth from 1989 – 2002 (Rogstad & Copas, 2004). On television, majority of the food advertisements are submissive to breakfast cereals, soft drinks, fast-food restaurants (Livingstone & Helsper, 2006). Obesity is one of the health problems children are facing today, as the numbers counting to increase, but they are not at fault because companies know how to make them want the junk foods that cause this.

I can be stated that children are easily influenced. When they are very young, most cannot tell reality from fantasy when vexing different mediums. They lack the experience and knowledge to understand the purpose of the persuasive advertising appeal.

A social influence is when a person or even potentially a group uses some type of social power over someone in the attempt to persuade a change of the attitudes or behavior of someone else in a certain way. For example, conformity is a major type of social influence involving a change in attitude, belief, or behavior in order to fit in (McLeod 2016). Specifically, conformity, also known as residing to the majority, quickly creeps its way into our lives starting at a young age, and it is known for taking over how we do everything that we do. No

Children are similar to brand new sponges. Kids absorb everything you put in front of them. If you model bad behavior, they reenact the conduct. So, if you put a child in front of a television that exposes bad foods and rebellious behavior, therefore the kid now witnessed a terrible type of habit and could easily decide to mimic it. As an adult, it’s much easier to perceive that television is all acting, but a child’s brain is very vulnerable to anything that appears in front of them. A child is the easiest consumer companies can wield to want their products due to their ignorance upon how the real world works. If an advertising company asks children questions about what types of toys they like, or something like questioning what their favorite kinds of ads are, they wouldn’t see the unethical reasoning behind theses questions. Without a doubt, there certainly should be a limit to how advertisers approach children. The next question is, who is responsible for how much the children get exposed to ads? The answer is not just the company, or parents. Exposure to ads is the accountability to both the markets and parents.

When it comes to advertising on the television makes children obsessed with wanting to eat fast food on a daily basis. According to the text, “product preferences affect children's product purchase requests and these requests influence parents' purchasing decisions”. This shows that by showing advertisements, the children are amused by how advertisements are, so the parents get convinced to buy their kids that fast food. Another example from the text is, “it’s not just that TV watching encourages youngsters to be less physically active, but it also exposes them to food advertisements that contribute to develop poor eating