The companies know that most young kids do not buy their own things but they do now that it is still productive to advertise for these things because the kids will go off to persuade their parents, family members, or others. Schlosser calls this “surrogate salesman.” In Kids As Customers, James McNeal, a professor of marketing at Texas A&M University defines the seven categories of juvenile nagging tactics as pleading, persistent, forceful, demonstrative, sugar-coated, threatening, and pity nagging. All of these types of nagging builds up on the parent and eventually they usually give in, in order to make up for all the time they stay at
Children and adolescents see these icons and want to emulate what they see and hear, because the ideology effect they have on youth. Customarily, advertisers have used TV programs and movies for ad placement because of the influence they have on children and adolescents (Committee on Communications, 2006, p. 2564, para. 1). Alcohol Advertising It is estimated that underage drinking accounted for at least 16% of
2008), have a constant bombardment of marketing messages, appearing in magazines, on the television, the Internet, billboards, the radio and sides of public transport. Children are considered one of the most vulnerable audiences and are seen as the primary target for marketers today because they are vocal about what they want their parents to buy and therefore influence their parents buying decisions, often known as “pester power”. This essay will use cross cultural evidence to address the problems children face today in the world of advertising, primarily focusing on the effects of television advertisements as it is the predominant medium that advertisers rely on to market products to children. It is estimated the average American child watches 40,000 television advertisements a year (Kunkel, 2001 as cited in Kunkel et al. 2004).
Since its invention over fifty years ago, television has been criticized by many as being bad for children’s brains. As television has advanced throughout the years, so have the fast paced, mindless shows designed for young children. In the article “Is SpongeBob SquarePants Bad for Children?” Roni Rabin discusses a research study that sought to prove that watching SpongeBob SquarePants has a negative effect on a child’s executive functioning system. The results of this small experimental study found that children who watched nine minutes of a fast paced cartoon had decreased their executive functioning compared to children who participated in nine minutes of drawing or watching educational programs. Connecting fast paced television viewing to losses in cognitive ability has profound significance for children’s social and learning development.
Moreover, these programs allow kids to learn about different morals and values of different cultures. Despite the advantages, too much television can lead into further problem of the development of the child. Studies show that even an hour to two hour of daily unsupervised television viewing would cause a child
Does T.V. influence children that violence, drugs, alcohol and sex are ok? American children watch an average of three to four hours of television daily. Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, many of today’s television programs are violent.
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. Movies as well hold influence, where a child might see an action or behavior in a movie they think is exciting, and may then attempt to duplicate and injure themselves. Though in recent years with the type of content released on sites such as YouTube, the negative influence is starting to become a larger part of the younger generations. Young adults and children who video record fights, thefts, and very dangerous or self-depravations is doing more damage than movies or shows with the same type of content. All to have that fifteen minutes of fame.
Is this really our medium? What can we do to change this and why hasn’t it changed? Like many predicted in his time our medium as doomed us all in the advancing act of communications. For example, Mr. McLuhan spoke of television and its affect on children due to how programs can be interpreted. He believed that television has an impact on children because of what’s in it.
First, Violence portrayed in video games and on television also contains sexually suggestive programs. These things are inappropriate for children. Even the cartoons now have things that are inappropriate for children, whether it’s language, violence or sexual innuendos. All these things subject children to content that is way above them at much too young an age. 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.
The way children are spoken to, played with, touched, etc. I think the expectations from society influence the way parents raise their children. Growing up, children are completely stereotyped. For example, boys are thought to mostly play with toy trucks/cars, action figures, and tools and girls are thought to mostly play with Barbie dolls, makeup, and kitchen sets. Mainly because that stereotypical societal behavior is encouraged through advertisements on a daily basis.