Advertising and Your Child
It’s no real secret that advertisers have a lot to gain in marketing to children, what is surprising are the effect of advertising on a child’s mind. They take it as honest, the sugary snack or newest toy being marketed to them without a full understanding from the child as to what the commercial really is.
Children accept the message as absolute fact, and due to the commercial will change and modify their own opinions and thoughts so they wind up closely aligning to the advertiser’s message.
Horrified isn’t a word to be taken very lightly, but this newsletter (quoted below) horrifies me. To be absolutely simplistic about it, it’s about the manipulation of children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Psychological Association recently issued some sobering news concerning advertising and children. Among their findings, they discovered that the average child who watches television views 40,000 ads on each year.
It is really a staggering statistic, what’s worse however is in the part quoted below.
The research study showed that children under the age of 8 tend to accept advertiser messages as fact. Their easy acceptance of marketing messages for fast and sugary foods in particular can lead to unhealthy eating habits. The most common products advertised to children are sugared cereals, candies, sweets, sodas, and snack foods. The study”s findings show that children express a preference for products with as little as a single viewing of a commercial.
To be sure, this isn’t something that advertisers are close to in the dark about. They know full well the initial trust they receive from children. They also use the same to their full advantage.
The AAP recommends avoiding or reducing the effects of advertising on young children by limiting television viewing time or taping shows to be viewed later without the ads. Talk also to your child about what he has seen, either on TV or on a billboard or other media, how he feels about what he”s seen, and how you feel about it, too. Talk about how advertising does not always tell you everything you need to know about a product.
All Quotes From a Yale Parenting Newsletter
Related posts
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
[...] Advertising and Your Child (0) [...]