The
Negative Impact of Children’s Advertising
In a world that is driven by marketing and the media, we
are bombarded with advertisements and product promotions on a daily basis.
Whether it is in the newspaper, magazines, radio, television, billboards, or
websites, the goal of advertisements are simply to get us to buy a certain
product. However, the business and strategic concepts behind them are far from
simple. Today’s advertisements exploit human desires and insecurities, while
manipulating their target audience for the sake of money. When it comes to an
unsuspecting and unknowing child, these advertisements can be especially
effective. Here lies the ethical decision that advertisers seem to ignore in
today’s market. The underdeveloped minds of children are too easily manipulated
and swayed by the clever techniques used by advertisers. In his article “Kid
Kustomers”, Eric Schlosser analyzes the growing business of child marketing.
Schlosser quotes head of the FTC Michael Pertschuk as saying “They cannot
protect themselves against adults who exploit their present-mindedness” (226). This
shows that children are vulnerable, and can’t see past the marketing
techniques. On top of this, today’s advertisements stress unwholesome acts and
habits such as nagging and throwing a tantrum. While the rest of the population
may be considered fair game, it is ethically and morally wrong to manipulate
the innocent mind of a child for financial gain, especially on such a large
scale. I believe that advertising and marketing directed toward young children
needs to be limited and regulated. While adults are mature enough to discern
these advertisements for what they are, and are held accountable for their
actions and decisions, children are not.
Children’s advertising has been around since the beginning
of TV and radio. In the beginning, children were mainly targeted by companies
that sold products pertinent to children, such as toys and breakfast cereals.
The popular breakfast cereal icons we see in the supermarket such as Tony the
Tiger, Tucan Sam, Count Chocula and many more are all examples of advertising
campaigns directed towards children. Tony The Tiger and the camaraderie he
shares with his group of athletic kids may be manipulating, though it is not
necessarily unwholesome. He is encouraging healthy habits like exercise and teamwork.
As for using clever cartoon characters
to make items seem more fun and appealing, this is expected of marketers, and
very productive from a business standpoint. Advertising such as this is fun, creative,
and can be viewed in a positive light. While this type of advertising is
relatively harmless, the same cannot be said about all children advertising. This
has gone much deeper than toy and cereal companies though. Schlosser says “Today
children are being targeted by phone companies, oil companies, and automobile
companies as well as clothing stores and restaurant chains” (223). The extent
of children’s influence in their parents’ purchasing decisions goes very deep,
and a wide variety of companies are now targeting children to tap into this
source of profit. Schlosser states that “they have a great deal of ‘pester
power,’ along with ‘leverage’ to get parents to buy them what they want” (222).
The term pester power refers to the incessant nagging and whining of children
to parents in order to get what they want. If the child asks enough times, and
bugs their parents enough, the parent will often give in just to appease the
child and avoid the pestering. In a particular Simpsons episode the children ask Homer if he will take them to a
water park. Despite an initial no, the children ask incessantly almost to the
point of driving Homer insane, until he finally gives in just to shut them up.
This power is promoted by advertisers and mastered by children, and gives both
a degree of leverage in the parents’ purchasing decisions. Children need to
learn that life is not about instant gratification, and that they cannot always
get what they want, especially by begging for it.
While the scale of children’s marketing in today’s
society is indeed incredible, what these marketers are pushing through their
advertisements will truly blow your mind. In Juliet B Schor’s article “Selling
to Children: The Marketing of Cool” she discusses the techniques used by ad
makers to manipulate children. It would seem that advertisers are pushing the
very concepts that parents would have their children avoid, right under their
noses. Schor describes ads targeted to children that “made subtle connections
to violence, drugs, criminality, and sexuality” (220). Companies are using the
natural human desire for sex, independence, and rebellion to exploit and
attract the underdeveloped minds of children. Advertisers have also been known
to “promote behavior that is annoying, antisocial, or mischievous” (Schor 224).
Though these ads may seem harmless, many of them are indeed promoting negative
attitudes and behaviors. In Schor’s article she explains that many advertisers
have tried to tap into the hip-hop and rap culture, due to its association with
streets, ghettos, and overall edginess (220). This culture is often associated
as being “cool” to youth, especially wealthy whites. Reese’s Puffs Cereal
commercials, for example, often feature young African American teens dressed in
trendy clothing, performing hip hop dancing and rapping. In an attempt to be
cool, white children try to mimic this subculture. Advertisers are well aware
of this, and do not hesitate to promote this attitude to its target audience.
Children are clearly an unfair, yet highly profitable
target for these marketing giants. Because of this, children’s advertising and
marketing needs to be limited and regulated. In Schlosser’s article “Kid
Kustomers,” he says “the typical American child spends more time watching
television than doing any other activity except sleeping” (226). While this
statistic alone is a bit disheartening, it is even more so when we understand
that during that television time they are constantly being manipulated and
persuaded by corporate giants. The people that design these commercials and
advertising campaigns are among the best in the business, and it is their full-time
job to identify how exactly they can get kids to want their product, and to buy
it or have it bought for them. This being said, the unsuspecting innocent mind
of a child is completely vulnerable to this act, and is manipulated on a daily
basis without even being aware of it. Not only are they being manipulated, but
the advertisers are promoting unwholesome behaviors and habits such as nagging
and throwing a tantrum. It is for these precise reasons that advertising that
directly target children needs to be regulated. From an ethical standpoint, it
is wrong.
Works
Cited
Schlosser, Eric. “Kid
Kustomers.” Signs of Life in the USA:
Reading on Popular Culture for
Writers.
Eds. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012.
222-27. Print.
Schor, Juliet B.
“Selling to Children: The Marketing of Cool.” Signs of Life in the USA: Reading
on Popular Culture for Writers.
Eds. Sonia Massik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/
St. Martins, 2012. 218-27. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment