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Stages in child development
The effect of marketing on children
The effect of marketing on children
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Recommended: Stages in child development
Children are foolish, ignorant, and trusting adults label this as innocence and try to cherish and preserve it, however today's marketing and advertising is destroying this state of childhood bliss with the products and messages they are force feeding the youth of today. It is completely unethical for commercials to try and take advantage of children and adolescents.
If one turn on children's television show today and watch transiently first a person will likely recognize that it has been reduced to a steaming pile of hot garbage. Source C claims that “their (children) cognitive structures are beginning to form and they are most sensitive to external influences”. So if young adolescents are being exposed to filth as entertainment for the sake
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“All this for only $19.99” is something all too pretty, but how is it constructive? So why is the superpower that is the all in compassing advertisement used for such frivolous things. Source F introduces the information that “social marketing campaigns suggests that media can also be a powerful tool for promoting healthy behavior and preventing risky behavior among children” if this statement is indeed true, then could any right minded human person expose the youth to advertisements that try to sell them on false ideals and unnecessary products. It should be at the forefront of all minds what we push upon impressionable minds the reason being that those minds will someday assume the form of the future. The ability to properly market virtuous messages that will benefit people in the long run, is there the reason marketing should not be used on children is that these are not what is being shown it is just another excuse to …show more content…
Cathy Wilcox's untitled cartoon in Source D shows just how brainless advertisement molds our children. In this cartoon the child is unable to think for herself as well as being overweight and not listening to her guardian. This is not just some theoretical cartoon depicting false beliefs this is certainly the power that media has on our future generations. The ability to affect the mind and influence the children is more real than ever and has already begun to turn the young masses. You can also examine in the illustration that these commercials have created false ideals that real life could never live up to in this instance it is just wanting a snack but it escalates from here. Creating false ideals will subconsciously stay with someone their entire life from the impossibly attainable bodies of Victoria Secret models to the super expensive car commercials that only a few will actually buy it creates a fantasy world that children will not understand and start comparing to our reality and reality is always more disappointing than fantasy. The expectation that the media pressures us to imitate these false ideals can break down person's psyche like never
George Parker once said, “The only people who care about advertising are the people who work in advertising." Advertisers use many different techniques that target children and teens. Many people do not realize how harmful this can turn out to be. Advertising plays a harmful role in the lives of youth because it poses health risks, prevents children and teens from saving money, and exposes them to way too many ads.
In the article, Every Nook and Cranny: The Dangerous Spread of Commercialized Culture by Gary Ruskin and Juliet Schor (Ackley 361). Since the early 90s is when Commercialism has bombarded the society. Ruskin and Schor provide examples why advertising has an effect on people’s health. Marketing related diseases afflicting people in the United States, and especially children, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and smoking-related illnesses. “Each day, about 2,000 U.S. children begin to smoke, and about one-third of them will die from tobacco-related illnesses” (Ackley 366). Children are inundated with advertising for high calorie junk food and fast food, and, predictably, 15 percent of U.S. children aged 6 to 19 are now overweight (Ackley 366). Commercialism promotes future negative effects and consumers don’t realize it.
The land of the free, brave and consumerism is what the United States has become today. The marketing industry is exploiting children through advertisement, which is ridiculously unfair to children. We are around advertisement and marketing where ever we go; at times, we don't even notice that we are being targeted to spend our money. As a matter of fact, we live to buy; we need and want things constantly, and it will never stop. The film, Consuming Kids , written by Adriana Barbaro and directed by Jeremy Earp, highlights children as this powerful demographic, with billions of dollars in buying power, but the lack of understanding of marketers’ aggressive strategies. Children are easily influenced and taken advantage of, which is why commercialization of children needs to stop. Commercialization to children leads to problems that parents do not even know are happening such as social, future, and rewired childhood problems. Government regulations need to put a stop to corporations that live, breathe and sell the idea of consumerism to children and instead show that genuine relationships and values are what are important.
Any agency that uses children for marketing schemes spend hundreds of billions dollars each year world wide persuading and manipulating consumer’s lifestyles that lead to overindulgence and squandering. Three articles uncover a social problem that advertising companies need to report about. In his research piece “Kid Kustomers” Eric Schlosser considers the reasons for the number of parents that allow their children to consume such harmful foods such as ‘McDonalds’. McDonalds is food that is meant to be fast and not meant to be a regular diet. Advertising exploits children’s needs for the wealth of their enterprise, creating false solutions, covering facts about their food and deceiving children’s insecurities. It contains dissatisfaction that leads to over consumption. Children are particularly vulnerable to this sort of manipulation, American Psychological Association article, “Youth Oriented Advertising” reveals the facts upon the statics on consumers in the food industries. The relationship that encourages young children to adapt towards food marketing schemes, make them more vulnerable to other schemes, such as, advertising towards clothing, toys and cars. Article writer of “The relationship between cartoon trade character recognition and attitude toward product category in young children”, Richard Mizerski, discusses a sample that was given to children ages three to six years old, about how advertising incurs young children that are attracted too certain objects or products on the market.
According to Mark Dolliver, “foods account for 39 percent of TV advertising seen by 2-7 year olds, 95 percent of that seen by 8-19s and 92 percent of that seen by 13-17s.On a typical day, the 2-7 year olds are exposed to 4:51 minutes of food commercials.” (Dolliver, 2007. p.1) Dolliver used statistics to show much how children are seeing these commercials. Throughout the rest of the article he talks about the increasing amounts of time that children spend watching television and the types of foods that are being advertised. Depending on the family dynamic in the household, children could be watching more television than the statistics that Dolliver presents in his study. This is what would be characterized as the advertisement of obesity in todays society. Before televisions were made, there were print advertisements that contributed to the purchasing of junk or fast foods like the 1956 Canada Dry Ginger Ale Print Ad. Although for 1956, there is not a lot of information about the obesity epidemic, it contributes to how powerful advertisements can be. These advertisements whether it is from the 1950s or if it is from today, largely influence the food quality that children are wanting or expecting. When children are exposed to television advertisements about unhealthy products in large quantities, they are more susceptible to the risk of obesity. Television
This helps widen the idea of just how many ways children and teens can be affected by advertisements not just by making them more accessible but making them a part of what this society is. By making their products a part of the child’s life they are allowing the product to become a norm in the life of a child.
The rate of childhood obesity “has grown significantly in recent years and many have argued that this is partly the result of unregulated advertising to children” (Maria and Carter). Young children that watch television do not fully comprehend the importance of the subliminal messages companies are employing: cartoons and catchy songs to hook the child into demanding unnecessary products. According to Punyanunt-Carter, studies have demonstrated that “children under the age of eight are not cognitively and psychologically competent enough to discern media messages”. It is not acceptable for corporate moguls to take advantage of children, who cannot comprehend the severity of the situation. Children strive for the instant gratification they are promised from the ads they see on television, which cause children to become restless. This restlessness directly affects parents, as the constant pestering from the children is tiring for an adult and leads them to give in to the child’s temper tantrums and buy the product. This cycle of behavior causes children to see fast food as an award and not be educated on the truth of what they are consuming–both physically and
advertising is becoming a bigger role in the lives of youth. Since deregulation in 1984, the money advertisers make off of kids has been increasing by millions each year. kids who don't even have the brain function to make a good choice on what they buy are being targeted as young as 5. As young kids become more accustomed to certain products young, they continue buying them over their whole life. This is what advertisers are causing by targeting the youth. Advertisers are finding that marketing to kids makes a lot of money, the youth believe everything they hear, and the advertising techniques they do today are almost sure to work.
From cartoon and sports to having the toys in meals in a huge display and lowered. There are even advertisements that trick adults. They are convincing, but it can all be stopped with just simple reminders that it’s not real or it’s not good to have this in your body. These reminders can help America become less obese and more health conscious and can even affect the way children think as they grow up surrounded by them. The United States is slowly increasing its awareness of the condition that it is in by companies improving foods and people paying more attention to the nutrition’s in foods. Also many food companies have died down on television advertising for kids, but it is still found in other expressed ways. While it is okay to advertise the question of is it okay to advertise to children is still not answered. It all depends on the consumers what is right and wrong and how to approach each product. Obesity from these products can be cured by hard exercise, but this is not recommended for children. It is more efficient for children to just eat healthy as they are still growing each day. So the next time an ad pops up on the screen and that little girl or boy is focused on it try to explain to them by reading the ingredients or the nutrition label why they should not eat it often. With small steps like these children
Commercials make the viewer think about the product being advertised. Because of the amount of television children watch throughout the week, it allows the children to be exposed to the information over and over again. Per year, children are known to view thousands of fast food commercials. On a daily basis, a teen will usually view five advertisements and a child aged six to eleven will see around four advertisements (Burger Battles 4). Businesses use this strategy to “speak directly to children” (Ruskin 3). Although the big businesses in the fast ...
“When children watch television, they cannot escape food advertising. “Sugared snacks and drinks, cereal, and fast food advertisements respectively comprise approximately thirty-two percent, thirty-one percent, and nine percent of all advertisements marketed specifically to children.” (Termini, Roberto, Hostetter) Due to limited cognitive abilities, children view many food advertisements, and don’t really have the knowledge or capability to comprehend that the food being advertised is not healthy. They don’t believe that anybody would want to sell them something that harms them, so they might plead to their parents to get them that cereal with the funny talking frog on the cover, not knowing how much sugar is in the cereal, and how harmful it is to their bodies.... ...
The findings in Dittman’s article fully support my findings as well as my own personal. beliefs that advertising to children is unethical because a lot of the children watching the TV are doing so without adult supervision. A lot of children watching TV are 8 or younger and they do not fully comprehend the importance of the subliminal messages that the companies are sending. out by using their cartoons and catchy songs to hook the child into buying their products. I believe that advertising is a modern example of brainwashing and that with no parental supervision or no parental limits, our nation’s youth will be so caught up in the power of advertising, that their youth and innocence will end much faster than the generation before.
Children between four and eight don’t recognize that ads are paid commercials intended to convince them into buying something. Children see about 6,000 advertis...
Across America in homes, schools, and businesses, sits advertisers' mass marketing tool, the television, usurping freedoms from children and their parents and changing American culture. Virtually an entire nation has surrendered itself wholesale to a medium for selling. Advertisers, within the constraints of the law, use their thirty-second commercials to target America's youth to be the decision-makers, convincing their parents to buy the advertised toys, foods, drinks, clothes, and other products. Inherent in this targeting, especially of the very young, are the advertisers; fostering the youth's loyalty to brands, creating among the children a loss of individuality and self-sufficiency, denying them the ability to explore and create but instead often encouraging poor health habits. The children demanding advertiser's products are influencing economic hardships in many families today. These children, targeted by advertisers, are so vulnerable to trickery, are so mentally and emotionally unable to understand reality because they lack the cognitive reasoning skills needed to be skeptical of advertisements. Children spend thousands of hours captivated by various advertising tactics and do not understand their subtleties.