Effects of child-targeted advertising

Gabe Machen
Section 14
Katherine Cowley
7/29/09

Effects of Child-Targeted Advertising

In our society advertising plays a huge role in the economy, social life, and our general perceptions about products, people, and morals. The influence of advertising is everywhere. It pops up on billboards while we drive, commercials while we watch television, and side panel ads while surfing the net. This bombardment is all well and good if we know how to perceive deception and fraud in these ads. Unfortunately, our children have no such abilities and there is a need for exploration on just what effects dangerous advertising is having on our children’s perceptions of the different industries that target them. An article on the harmful effects of advertising on children stated that, “By the late 1970s, research indicated that children had trouble distinguishing between television programs and commercials. Most had little or no understanding of ads' persuasive intentions, thus making them highly vulnerable to commercial claims and appeals (Fox,1).” Obviously this could create a problem when it comes to buying food or toys as well as their future choices in the areas of smoking and underage drinking. It is important to examine just what kind of impressions our children our left with when we allow advertisements to enter our homes and what effects the advertisements have on their present and future choices. Although marketing has become an essential part of our society in general, the effects that advertising, especially specifically targeted advertising, has on young impressionable children are singularly negative as they promote greed and materialism while downplaying the dangers of risky behaviors. Research has shown that the advertising industry has had affected the rise of child obesity by astounding rates. Studies between the requests of children and their parents responses directly correlates with the things children see on television as well as the way they are presented for parents. With all the tobacco and alcoholic product ads on television children become more and more likely to smoke or drink underage as they get older. This, of course, is supplemented but the growing callousness in the attitude of parents towards such things as high school drinking parties and low-risk drug use. Children in this day make bad choices because of many factors but one of the biggest factors is deceptive advertising that causes them to think they need one of the many luxuries that plague this country.
The first and perhaps most presently dangerous issue is childhood obesity and the influence that advertising has on it. In Faith McLellan’s article on the subject she paraphrase’s from a Harvard Medical School Professor who “said that in the early 20th century, children did hard physical work in factories, with the result that companies essentially owned their bodies. Now marketers are attempting to own children’s minds (McLellan,1001).” This quote essentially shows exactly the problem with this type of advertising. Instead of simply presenting a product the advertising shows children exactly how to get their parent to buy the product. This method of advertising shows a direct correlation to the rise of obesity. McLellan makes this point as her article continues, “The relentless onslaught of advertising for food products contributed to the unprecedented weight gain seen during the past 2 decades in children in genetically stable populations (1001).” American advertising is even starting to have a poll on other nations and while Americans may have built up some type of tolerance for such horrible junk foods, places like China where the traditional food is very healthy are drastically gaining weight as American junk food seeps into their society. An article on the rise of junk food penetration in Asian countries said that, “a survey across six Asian countries including Malaysia conducted by Consumers International observed that there has been increased production and marketing of fatty and sugary food aimed at children (Kulasagaran,1).” This increase has resulted in a higher child obesity level which is the direct result of clever advertising. John Eighmey wrote an article entitled “Deception and Unfairness in Children’s Advertising” in which he outlined the main reasons that child-targeted advertising is deceptive.
1. Premium distracting attention from the product;
2. Brevity of commercials-insufficient comprehension;
3. Comparative advertising may leave deceptive impressions;
4. Stereotyping;
5. Excessive use of emotions;
6. Reliance on nonsense without product information;
7. Similarities taken too literally;
8. Deceptive juxstaposition of products with contexts or persons;
9. Unfamiliar terms or phrases; and
10. Global uniqueness claims. (Eighmey, 17)
These deceptive techniques contribute heavily to the food industry advertisements and are an important part of their methods. Especially number two concerning the brevity of commercials leading to an insufficient knowledge on the subject is important. If the commercial is so short that it shows only the good and not the overwhelming bad then how are we supposed to distinguish between those things that are real and those that are fraudulent.