Advertisement: Kids, Just Say No

Advertisement is “ any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor” and “has an immense impact on the impressionable minds of the young generation” ( Pandey 1). Therefore, children are more susceptible to any form of advertisement and are therefore more likely to make decisions based on what brand is seen on television, the internet, or in publication. For example, the marketing for sugary cereals could have a negative effect on a child's weight or cigarette ads on a child’s overall health or certain toys and products on a child’s happyness. Industry leaders would have many believe that “advertising does not increase the overall quantity sold” rather industry’s “maintain that advertising merely enhance the market share of a particular brand, without recruiting” (Pandey 1.) Consequently, by enhancing the products industry leaders are therefore inadvertently giving the “impressionable” (Pandey 1) mind of a child little to no choice when choosing to use said product. Furthermore, one can conclude that children can be negatively effected by consuming said product, thereby concluding that advertisement has a negative effect on children. Tobacco manufacturers spend “$30 million /day (11.2 billion/year) on advertising and promotion” (Padley 3) and “recent evidence has emerged that tobacco companies have specifically targeted teenagers as young as 13 years of age” (Padley 3.) As a consequence, children are “ manipulated by advertisement[‘s] promise that the tobacco will do something special for them which will transform their life” (Padley 4.) By making such promises, children are going to be going out and buying cigarettes hoping that something will change. Subsequently, new research by the United States Institute of Medicine, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and the World Health