This increased advertising exposes young consumers to several potentially harmful products and social stereotypes; such as, alcohol, tobacco, and sexually motivated content. The Effects of Advertising on American Youth Advertisers make billions of dollars every year by advertising their products by utilizing many different media outlets and networks. According to Committee on Communications (2006), “[c]hildren and adolescents view 40,000 ads per year on TV alone” (p.2564). These ads sometimes involve a professional athlete or celebrity advertising products that are of an adult or sexual nature. Children and adolescents see these icons and want to emulate what they see and hear, because the ideology effect they have on youth.
In “Kid Kustomers” a selection from Eric Schlosser’s best-selling book, Fast Food Nation, he explains the increase in children’s advertising and states that advertising aimed at small children attempts “to increase not just current, but also future, consumption.” Throughout this text Schlosser gives many examples of how children’s advertising is effective and why it began. The reasoning behind this new increase in advertising aimed at children is because all of the companies noticed the potential amount of profit they could make off of this change. Adding children to their advertising aim was supported by companies because they want to create lifelong relationships with their customers, put pressure on future consumption of their product early,
Cynthia Wagner states that, “The violent content of those games, particularly those favored by males, is of growing concern to families, schools, and policy makers. Gaming is participatory while television viewing is passive, so the risk may be greater that exposure to violent games will result in violent behavior.”(Wagner, 2004).With video gaming on the rise now, “Video games are in 80% of U.S. homes with children; they generated $6 billion in 2000 and $11 billion by 2003. All indications are that the industry will continue to grow at a healthy clip," says Professor Bradley Greenberg of Michigan State University. (As cited in Wagner, 2004, pg. 16)It has become a growing concern for adults who have begun to take note of the correlation between violent games and violent behavior in their children.
Everyday we are exposed to a wide array of advertising messages. Advertising is a form of communication that aims to persuade potential consumers to buy or consume a particular product. An advertiser’s goal is to increase the sales of different products by drawing people’s attention to them and showing them in a positive, favourable light, with the intention of influencing attitudes and subsequent behaviour of viewers (Singer and Singer, 2001, p. 379). Children, usually classified as someone under 16 (Which? 2008), have a constant bombardment of marketing messages, appearing in magazines, on the television, the Internet, billboards, the radio and sides of public transport.
We were introduced to the child pageant industry in the 1960’s. Today, the pageant industry is skyrocketing, becoming one of the fastest growing industries in the country (Nussbaum). Many people have negative views on child pageantry due to the way the media presents them. Television shows such as “Toddlers and Tiaras” and “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” have introduced many to the pageant world, but that coverage is limited and sensationalized to those who visually perceive the positives of involvement in pageants (Morgan). Partaking in pageantry is a great learning experience.
Childrens shows and movies seem to hold the most influence. Children are extremely impressionable during their early years and content creators, advertisers, and celebrities know this. Many of the shows are educational, teaching children life lessons and other things they will need going forward. Then there are shows that try to imprint messages on children, be it a political stance or product loyalty. Over the years, shows such as Sesame Street (Huffington Post, 2012), The Muppets (Cooper, 2011), Thomas & Friends (Wilkes, 2009), and many more, have been accused of indoctrinating children, but have been and continue to be, very educational.
''Over 1,000 studies point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children.". The effects of media violence on society,especially children and teenagers, are doubtlessly very negative. Several studies done in the United States and Canada have shown a positive relationship between early exposure to television violence and physical aggressiveness in later life. Media exposure leads to a desensitization to violence and is associated with violent and aggressive behavior, bullying, fear, depression, nightmares and sleep disorders. The results of a longitudinal study tracked 700 male and female youths over a fifteen-year period.
Therefore, toy makers decided to make them faster, which will keep the kids busy and they will enjoy it longer. Most kids wouldn’t want to be hanging out with their friends, and have a race with their toys if their toy was going to be slow. Most of them would only want to race if their toy was going to be fast. That is why toy makers decided to make the toys faster. Toy makers also started to make toys smaller.
Whether it is computers or video game consoles, 10 percent of children aged 2 to 18 play console and computer games more than 1 hour a day. In 8 to 13-year-old boys, the average is more than 7.5 hours per week. If video game playing begins as a child, the chances of the hobby carrying over into adulthood grow exponentially. These games can include a variety of types and genres, but violent video games seem to be the
I have noticed that in the U.S. there are a lot of overweight children for many reasons. Children should be encouraged to get up and be active versus sitting around watching so much television and eating. The results of a study on television viewing and body weight in children earlier in the year of 2007, concluded that kids who watched the most TV or ate the fewest meals with their families were at risk of being or becoming overweight (Gabel et al, 2007). The analysis addressed the eating and activity factors associated with the onset of becoming overweight and persistent overweight in 8,000 children from kindergarten to third grade. Researchers identified three groups of children: never overweight, overweight onset and persistent overweight.