The author of “Born to buy” Juliet Schor states that parents continue to pay little attention on training their children to thrive socially through many dimensions of their lives, but instead leave them exposed to the dangers of overconsumption of commercial messages. Overexposure to media and advertisement in particular affects children in many ways. Youth in America dwell in a setting that is very flooded with media. As a result, they enjoy increasing access to television, websites and many more advertising channels through various technological devices, usually as tiny as pocket-size. In these situations, it can impact both positive and negative effects on the way young people conduct themselves. Today, it is evident that the media has …show more content…
“Children respond to advertisement differently at different ages” (Sanders, Montgomery, & Brechman-Toussaint, 2000; 943). The theory identifies three stages; namely, preoperational thought that involves children between 2-7 years, concrete operational thought encompassing children from 8-12 years, and formal operational thought mainly encompassing adolescents. In the early stages, especially the preoperational and concrete operational thought, children use animistic thinking (David-Ferdon & Hertz, 2007). At these stages, children believe that whatever is presented through advertisements is real. For them, the imaginary characters and events are real. For example, the fantasies of Christmas presented through television advertisements appeal highly to children and American youth at large. Advertisements of food, clothes, and many other materials advertised on the televisions appeal to the youth at …show more content…
“Most American youths are overly materialistic. They want to have almost every trending item as they are presented through advertisements” (Livingstone & Helsper, 2006; 579). The inability or refusal of the parents to buy such items for them leads to parent-child conflicts. But for those who are able to get such things at any slight demand, their lifestyles continue to be materialistic. Because most parents want to avoid such conflicts, they tend to provide such materials as children demand them. Lifestyle diseases such as obesity emerge given the fact that children demand or buy too much of the advertised food some of which is oily and not healthy for over
This survey was born out of concern that there are few statistics on the effects of marketing industry’s impact on our youth. Just as the article on “Consuming Kids” raises awareness about children being lured into believing they can’t live without things and the problems rising out of it. This survey makes us aware of how this market is willing to sacrifice the sanctity of family life by undermining the parents via their television while children watch mega hours of uninterrupted commercials aimed at them. These surveys were compared with a couple of sparsely completed other ones. The respondents felt that problems such as: aggressiveness, materialism, obesity, lack of creativity, overly sexualized behavior and self-esteem, were detrimentally influenced by the youth marketing industry.
Kids these days are constantly looking to get the next best thing, or act how the “popular” people would act. In the article “Commodifying Kids: The Forgotten Crisis,” Giroux talks about the affects the media market is having on children of today. The media is “brainwashing” kids into buying their products and catching them while they are young. The children of today are measuring their worth by the things they own or the way they act, which is largely due in part to the media market. While I do agree with Giroux on how the media market is to blame for the strong influence of children, I also think that the parents should share some of the blame for giving into their child’s desires and buying and encouraging them to get the top products.
In the documentary Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood and Argument—Yes! Children need Protection..., media critic Hoerrner and marketing various marketers’ state that marketers sell children's product, not values. Consequently, marketers teach values of self-worth and deceiving in order to sell their product. These values that children learn are like fingerprints, no two children will have gotten the same message from ads. Values children learn come from the American Mantra as Velma Lapoint point out from the documentary that “you are what buy...own...if you don’t have it you are less than...a nobody”. This powerful statement tells children that if they do not have a product they are worthless (Lapoint 16). Marketing advertisements
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 my boys were little, the commercials on television were such an intrusive force in our home I actually shut the cable off for about ten years. I’m not going to lie, there were times at Christmas and birthdays that I wish I had that marketing because they really didn’t have a wish list. They really didn’t ask for anything. I turned on the television when my girls were little and 9/11 happened. It was such a scary time and I needed to stay informed. The girls grew up with the advertising the boys didn’t. The contrast was I witnessed was first hand. They wanted a pillow pet, moon sand, and let’s not forget the WII because then they were going to get exercise while playing with that one. My girls fell hook, line, and sinker for those colorful fast moving
Common themes that are used to sell products are sex, sex appeal and fast food. They are targeted for a younger marketing audience. Over the last thirty years advertising has focused on a younger consumer base and designs commercials to sell products to this age group. You see television ads, that are selling a mature product, but the commercial is appealing to an immature audience. For example: Trojan Condoms have created a cartoon character, Trojan Man, that is promoting the selling of condoms. This form of advertising appeals to smaller children because of the cartoon animated character. Though the product being advertised is a for an adult market, it is still sending out a message to young children that sex is okay. This direct kind of advertising with a cartoon theme, is what catches the child?s attention. The APA report points out, that children under the age of 8 can?t grasp the notion that commercials have a purpose other than entertainment. The child believes what they see and hear without understanding the true message. This is an effective way to advertise, because this persuades the child to want the product or to remember the product later on. Little catchy jingles and colorful carton-like commercials will catch the interest of a younger child, and using simple language that the child can understand is key to getting and keeping their attention focused on the product. Advertising focuses on the young consumer , because the marketing base is high for pr...
“What do you call a consumer who wants to buy everything you have, doesn't care what it costs and is less than five feet tall? A marketer's dream? Nope. You call them kids,” declared a report titled ‘The ABC’s of Advertising to Kids Online’ . Some techniques used by advertisers’ have proven to be harmful to the psychological and physical well-being of the viewer, specifically children. Children under the age of five are most vulnerable because they do not understand the concept of advertising. Adolescents are also vulnerable to these harmful effects because they are often self-conscious and insecure during the transition into adulthood. Advertisers work on a cradle to grave system, influencing children as young as possible. Are your children safe?
According to the documentary Consuming Kids (Barbaro, 2008) children are one of the largest and most profitable demographics targeted by advertisers. The film also argues that children in their formative years are very vulnerable to predatory advertising practices (Barbaro, 2008). Therefore, it is necessary to explore the sociological impact of marketing, advertising, and consumer culture on children. In a capitalist system, the almighty dollar is king and marketers spend billions of dollars annually (Sebastian, 2015) creating an addiction to goods and services in what some sociologists have dubbed the “commodification of everything” (Tepperman & Curtis, 2009, p. 422). This paper will argue that the mass marketing of goods and services to children is a serious issue responsible
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.
Alcohol. Obesity. Violence. For kids today in the United States, these are only a few of the problems linked to the child-targeted mass media, especially the multi- million dollar business—television commercials in children’s programming. With the disappearance of a TV-free environment, a typical American kid sees about 40,000 television advertisements each year, most of which are for soda, candy, video games, fast food and their free toys. In order to collect some information, I sat down on a Saturday morning on July 16, 2004, and recorded several kids’ TV ads for further analysis. Needless to say, the results were quite shocking—aside from the obvious, I also noticed that most ads featured active and aggressive boys while the presence of girls was rarely to be seen. Being a girl myself, I felt the need to take a close look at such inequality. I began to wonder if commercialism has overlooked the importance of gender issues, which would then create negative impacts on children by sending out harmful hidden messages. For example, these ads can promote a polarization of gender roles that portray the sexes in stereotypical and traditional ways, which will unconsciously affect young viewers’ attitudes and values. In his article written in 1988, “What Are TV Ads Selling to Children,” John J. O’Connor asserts, “Things haven’t changed much in the television business of children’s merchandising, and some aspects of the scene are even more appalling.” Indeed, though not as prevalent as in earlier years, TV commercials aimed at kids still contain underlying themes such as sexism that’s extremely harmful to the development of the youth.
In other countries where obesity is not a big problem kids play outside for hours instead of being inside the house playing video games, taking naps or searching the web. Children are more likely to become obese if both of their parents are also heavy. “Parents who do not recognize weight problems in their children are less likely to take steps to change their children’s unhealthy lifestyles and to prevent obesity.” (Evans) When raised around unhealthy habits children are educated with the idea that junk food is what’s best for
“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.
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.
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...
Advertising has influenced teenagers in a profound way. The influence of advertising has affected teenagers in a way they are persistently exposed by means of television programs, articles in magazines, product endorsement ads, and through the internet. Although teenagers are excessively exposed, how they perceive and process advertisements ultimately determines how they are influenced. With that said, the perception towards advertisements can be amalgamated between reality and fantasy, which evidently has both negative and positive impacts. Advertisers strategically capitalize on what is trending in youth culture which makes teenagers most pervasive to wanting to fit in. The societal culture in advertising plays a crucial role in the way teenagers