Making a Persuasive Case from Documentary on Children and Advertising
“Consuming kids: The commercialization of childhood” is a documentary that focuses on the tremendous growth of child marketing which has thrived in unregulated industry. The documentary addresses topics in wide range scope such as “edutainment” for toddlers and babies, commercialization in schools and increased market research. It relies on industry insiders, health care professionals, advocates for children, news media clips and advertising to expose the controversies in the industry. Although the documentary recognizes the impact of child marketing on growth in terms of annual spending of about $700b, it is against wholesale commercialization of childhood through exposing the effects of the same on the well being and health of children.
The film has tried to attain a substantial degree of persuasion although the specific goal of the film is not clearly stipulated (Lannon 123). The film succeeds in connecting with the audience on the basis of relationship by addressing them as parents and society and rationally providing information that allows the audience to engage in thought. Additionally, the evidence provided is broad and adequate enough to persuade. In addition, the film recognizes the constraints to its achievement by addressing the various constraints involved. For example, the organizational constraints of the media revealed through the reduction of the authority of the Federal Trade Commission, political constraints originating from the deregulation of the industry, legal constraints and ethical constraints.
The documentary “Consuming kids” generally addresses parents and school administrators. The political realities addressed refer to the influe...
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...dutainment and the reliance on experts in advertising to erode the innocence of childhood and the effects of child marketing on the well-being and health of children (Pugh 166).
The focus of information is important with much emphasis on the deregulation of the industry as the cause of the problem while the other reasons are given equal weight. The conclusion of the film focuses more on the effects of the child marketing on the children. The authors provide a definitive action for the audience which entails taking responsibility for their children. However, this proves more of a challenge in a deregulated industry and the solution would be advocacy for increased regulation and increased research on the same. The film clearly presents the consequences of inaction mainly in negative effects on the health of children such as diabetes, obesity and general inactivity.
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.
Eric schlosser, a writer for Atlantic Monthly, addresses in his article, “Kid Kustomer”, the various marketing strategies used on children to American parents after the success of ads for the young. Schlosser exemplifies how companies market their products to children in order to convince parents to recognize the fact that the advertisements produced by companies turn children into customers. He employs parallel syntax, figurative language, and a objective tone to accomplish his goal.
In conclusion, we discussed human nature’s curiosity and struggle to be independent, our controlling society and how they hide the truth to protect themselves, and the influence of media to try and control us for their own good. The answers to the questions are that after the preschooler stage and before the teenager stage, this is true and before and after that stage, it isn’t. The messages that the director is trying to make us see are that society likes to influence us to do their bidding and the full truth will always be hidden, no matter what and the media helps them to do this. So strive like Truman to break free of the media’s and society’s hold so you can be able form opinions based on experience and not the norm.
Children are the easiest audience to target and it should be illegal to aim advertisements at them. Did you know that 26% of advertisements aimed at children are for breakfast cereals? Cereal is one of the most common breakfast foods that children eat; Trix cereal is one example of many sugary cereals that children consume every single day. The advertisements use different marketing techniques to target children to purchase the cereal. They use characters, celebrity endorsements, online games and quotes to make it seem exclusive. A sugary cereal such as this one is one small portion of a large problem – childhood obesity.
In the beginning of the book, Postman establishes the idea of media as a metaphor. This means that media can be viewed as what is important to a society. Postman is very influenced by Marshall McLuhan’s theory of the “medium is the message” (8). Postman then applies this theory to his own findings to form an argument against television. He tries to describe the extent to which media controls the messages we receive. For example, the television is continuously trying to persuade consumers to buy certain unnecessary products through a variety of manipulative techniques. Postman argues that Americans need to learn to differentiate between the different types of schemes used by the television to trick us. He concludes this idea of media being a metaphor by claiming that the media is changing and influencing the American culture.
Different forms of media are created constantly, sometimes even to address an idea in order to educate the audience, so they may learn from past mistakes. In today’s society, there have been countless films, where an idea was discussed or shown that educated society. Genres such as literature, theater, and film influenced today’s society as demonstrated by the movies the Crucible, which addressed false accusations with no proof, and The Day After Tomorrow, which addressed the debated issue of global warming’s effects.
Society tends to associate propaganda films with issues such as Nazi Germany and their film messages for their country; however, it is also possible for small independent companies, groups of like-minded people and individuals to use the media of film to incorporate messages for our society (The Independent, 2010). These messages are often in relation to changes that individuals should make in order to improve the standards by which they live their lives and changes to everyday habits that will benefit the individual, the individual’s family, a group of individuals or even a single person (Barnhisel and Turner, 2010).
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
Today, American film is among the most internationally supported commodities. Financially, its contributions are enormous: the industry is responsible for the circulation of billions of dollars each year. Since its explosion into the new media markets during the mid-twentieth century, film has produced consistently growing numbers of viewers and critics alike. Sparking debate over the nature of its viewing, film is now being questioned in social, political, and moral arenas for its potential impact on an audience. Critics claim that watching films is a passive activity in which the viewer becomes subconsciously absorbed, and creates a reliance or "addiction" to the medium, and thus can be influenced by any perpetual concepts or images. Advocates, however, argue that viewing such programs is an active process in which audience members are able to choose to what they are exposed, and interpret messages based on their individual needs and background. Perhaps both views are too extreme. Film from the 1950s to present, as will be explored in this essay, is an extremely useful medium, often underestimated within the label of "entertainment"; unfortunately, it may be partially responsible for current socio-cultural problems, too. The critical question, then, is whether film has fostered the progress of a more open-minded America, or rather hindered its development through the perpetuation of antiquated concepts of stereotypes, densensitized violence and breeding of normalcy.
Linn Susan E, “Food Marketing to Children in the Context of a Marketing Maelstrom,” Journal
“There are twelve billion dollars spent annually on ads directed at children” (Dittmann, 2004). These advertisements target young, impressionable minds, capture the attention of the child and imprint an ideal or message. While watching advertisements, a child develops a like or dislike for an activity or product. The strength of the desire is proportional to exposure. Desire creates action and action creates sales. I observed this principle with a sibling, my younger brother Eron. When a General Electric commercial came on television he, would turn and be mystified by the music and dancing of the actors. Around the age of eight, he expressed a very strong opinion that General Electric products are superior to other products. At this stage in his development, he did not have the cognitive ability to think abstractly to weigh all of the aspects associated with what makes a product of quality.
The textbook used in class (Huffman, 2002) describes that “advertising has numerous” methods to hook the individual into “buying their products and services.” The advertising. company surrounds a particular candidate such as a child and immediately sinks their teeth into the child’s mind to manipulate the child into desiring their products. Through TV, cartoons and magazine ads, children are hit by one subliminal message after another. They are shown how this product will improve their status by making them the envy of all their friends.
As a little girl I loved watching television shows on Saturday mornings. I’d get upset when a show would proceed to commercial. That is until I watched the shiny new toy being played with by the girl my age and of course the cool new one that came into the happy meal, then I’d forget. After seeing the appealing commercial I’d run to my mom and try to slickly mention it. “You know McDonalds has a new Monster’s Inc. toy in their happy meal. Isn’t that great? “Now I realize that back then I was targeted by big companies to beg my parents for things that I didn’t need or that wasn’t good for me in order to make money. Advertising today is affecting the health of today’s children because they eat the unhealthy foods advertised to them on: television, the internet, and even at school. Therefore, an impassioned discussion of possible solutions has been brewing.
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.
This makes children’s interest trivial and superficial. For instance, most of children refuse to buy any cheap products. They prefer most famous shop such as H&M, Splash, and Matalan and other brands. This help them to think that the fashionable and people who buy from expensive brand are the best people. As well, it causes them also to communicate with these people only. Thus they will be arrogant and judge people from their forms. In addition, not all parents have the ability to buy from the expensive brand and they try to reduce their spending in order to give their kids they needs and wants. Moreover, several ads seen currently include harmful stunts that kids try to do them. Due to, do not aware and understand the dangerous of it. For example, the ads of Red Bull drink that give energy for people. The company of this drink advertised this drink by famous quote which is “Red bull gives you wings”. Also they are representing this quote in ads. The last bad influence that can considered as the most essential one, is that the advertising can effect self- esteem by makes them feel inferior which weakens the personality of the child. Thus , it causes the kids hate their parents. Due to, the parents do not satisfy their children in the brands they want, food or any other