Consumerism: Marketing to Children in the Modern Age

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Consumerism: Marketing to Children in the Modern Age
While watching TV in the evening one is expecting to see a fair amount of commercial advertisements. It doesn’t really matter if you stick around to watch the commercial or not Americans watch so much TV that they will get you eventually. The easiest hook is the never ending food commercials during the 6 o’clock time frame. What advertisers are creating is memories; you may not jump up immediately and head to the closest fast food joint right then and there. But the next day while running around you think I need a snack and head right over to one of the places that you watched in a commercial the night before. That emotion, memory connection that sent you to fast food heaven to try their new chicken wings is what makes the ad world so successful. Food ads are just one of many industries that use the emotional connection to sell products. Ad companies even hire psychologists to improve the emotional connection we have to things and brands. Just thinking about emotional manipulation could make anyone angry but what if all that emotional baggage was really aimed at your children?
Are advertisers really targeting our children to sell toys, food and clothes? The short answer is yes, they even go so far as using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine which parts of the brain react to different types of advertising (Kramer 2006). The TV, Internet and school are all included as the major ways of exposing children. Viral videos are meant to be shared between friends this in turn makes them perfect points of contact for ad makers to influence children. Google search engine and Facebook social media website both collect “likes” and direct market right on their websites. Kids and con...

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...rribly easy for kids to recognize brands and recall their favorite characters. Legislation and regulation is needed, many overseas countries have started passing laws protecting the right of our children. It is time for the United States to get up to date on this issue.

Works Cited
Kramer, Juli B. "Ethical Analysis And Recommended Action In Response To The Dangers Associated With Youth Consumerism." Ethics & Behavior 16.4 (2006): 291-303. Academic Search Premier.
Linnett, Richard. "Psychologists Protest Kids' Ads." Advertising Age 71.38 (2000): 4-69. Academic Search Premier.
Mandese, Joe. "Study Says Dvrs, Ads Can Co-Exist." Television Week 23.23 (2004): 35. Academic Search Premier.
Shields, Mike. "Kill The Messages." Mediaweek 17.8 (2007): 6. Academic Search Premier.
Stanley, T. L. "Babies In Brandland." Brandweek 48.37 (2007): 28-32. Academic Search Premier.

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