Effects Of Advertising On Children

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Introduction Advertising is everywhere these days, and although it may seem harmless, it is far from that. Commercial providers advertise their products and services through any medium they come up with, including TV, movies and the internet. But it is not the mediums through which these commercial providers that is the problem; it’s the content of the advertisement. Mature-rated video games, restricted movies and music with “explicit content” are just some of the products being advertised to a market that is too young to comprehend the nature of said products. This made me think of a few questions, but they all seemed to point to one main theme: Does exposure to adult entertainment affect children in a negative way? In my opinion, it does. I believe that commercial providers should be forced to cease marketing adult entertainment to children because there have been studies that proved there is a correlation between exposure to violence in the media and violence in children. I will explore different aspects of children’s lives, including performance in school, use of drugs and/or alcohol and aggression further on in life, all based upon the content to which they are exposed as children. Arguments in Favour There are many reasons for which commercial providers should not be permitted to market adult entertainment to children. First of all, children under the age of 8 years old do not have to ability to understand the compelling intent of advertisements- instead, they view advertising as “truthful, fun, and entertaining” (Stockwell, 2005). Should a commercial provider market mature-rated video games or movies with violence in them to this age group, these children may think that it is appropriate to act in such a fashion. In the developmental stages of a child’s life, it is very important to imprint socially acceptable behaviour unto him, or he risks developing
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