The Influence of Food Advertising on Children - Coursework Example

Children as Consumers: Discuss the influence of food advertising on children. Should marketers be allowed to advertise to children? Table of ContentsIntroduction 3 Discussion 3 Piagetian developmental-cognitive approach theory 5 Environment learning theory 6 Compare and contrast with different perspectives 7 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction For several decades, the advertising has been omnipresent in environment of auditory and pictorial. The economy of a country is supported by advertising and marketing by endorsing the sale of services and goods for children and adults. Technological advancement and globalization lead to introduction of more and more products. Additionally, it became pivotal purpose of advertising to raise the awareness of potential consumers. According to Sandra L. Calvert, children have been targeted by marketers for years, but in recent decades there have been considerable amount of upsurge of augmented interest towards the child consumers. The consumer researchers and marketers are progressively determined and striving to effectively apprehend children as buyers and consumers. The food advertising on children can lead to greater purchase of the advertised products and preferences. In recent food and beverage industry, adolescents and children are regarded as the major market which resulted in to introduction of specialized advertising methods and food marketing. Children are vulnerable to advertising, as they do not have the ability to comprehend its influential and persuasive dimension. The food choices of children are heavily influenced by television advertising and media. The prime purpose of the paper is to use relevant models and theories to discuss about the impact of food advertising on children. Discussion Marketing can be marketing as a set of practices and an organizational function for delivering value, creating and communicating with the customers for benefit or organization and maintenance of customer relationship. Advertising is defined as the marketing communication that encourages organization to manipulate and persuade listeners, readers, viewers and consumers to buy their products. The daily lives of children the daily lives of children are permeated by marketing and advertising. In the era of current culture, effective advertising platforms and varied marketing, children are exposed to the introduction of large number of advertising and promotional undertakings. Furthermore, children can influence shopping decisions of their parents. The decisive target for marketers and advertisers are the children who did not formed their favourites, perceptions and desires. Multiple marketing and advertising channels are implemented by businesses to influence behaviour of food purchasing and foster brand-building to reach youth and children. Numerous survey and studies reveal that children have little knowledge about the prime purpose of the food advertising. Children below 7 years perceive and view advertising as unbiased information, enjoyable and fun (Ma, 2014, p.17). Television advertising on sugary cereals, fast foods and other foods that are high in sodium, calories and fat can effectively contribute towards the upsurge of rate of obesity for children in the United Kingdom. Obesity is the one of the most prime impacts of food advertisement on children. The food choices of young children can be affected by high rate of food advertisements. Recent statistics by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention show that there is rapid escalation of obesity amongst children (Kotabe, 2008, p.369). Studies from Centres for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrate that adolescents and children at a young age are consuming unnecessary sugar and dietary fat. Furthermore, this statistics is beyond the level of recommended amount of protein and nutrients that is needed to be consumed by adolescents and younger children. Researcher believes that advertising to children can make them over infatuated and too materialistic with products. Moreover, advertising can be emotionally-charged and sensitive issue which can influence behaviour of children. The propagation of advertising, products, media target and promotions is of concern to common public, policymakers and businesses. Researchers also state that advertising can be a prime factor for the cause of emergence of obesity in children. The advertising for children has created huge debate for introduction of new legislation. New bills have been introduced by members of public agencies in the United Kingdom to limit the time of advertisement of fast food items. The Children’s Television Act was passed in the year 1990 in UK (Belch, 2003, p.762). This act was enforced and taken by the federal Communication Commission. Additionally, this act applies to the cable operators, local broadcasters and local networks. In June 2004, the issue of obesity and food marketing has been raised in local courts and state legislatures. A broad bill has been introduced by Senator Tom Harkin to combat against obesity and chronic diseases. Moreover, this bill was planned to be possible precursor for restriction of advertising to children. Many people suggest that advertising to children can be regarded as unethical, as child can convince their parents to buy the brand. According to Strasburg and J.D. brown, various public policies have been introduced which states that advertising should be recognized by target customers (Williams, 2013, p.18). If any advertisement introduced to persuade target audience and they are incapable and unaware of the persuasive message of the advertisement, they target audiences can be more vulnerable. Therefore, it is vital for marketers to advertise brands which can be recognized by children. Studies reveal that advertisement may not be healthy for children. The environment learning theory and Piagetian developmental-cognitive approach theories are the two chief theories that direct in the field of considerate children as consumers. Piagetian developmental-cognitive approach theory A transactional process is proposed by Piaget which connects the cognitive stages of the children to their overall experience and knowledge about the world. Furthermore, this transactional process emphasize on the actions of children in the process of maturation and development. According to Piaget, the construction of intelligence is similar to the social evolution of any individual from childhood to maturity. The Piagetian developmental-cognitive approach theory states that schema is the basic unit of the intelligent behaviour. The word schema is described as the process in which people understand and organize their experience. According to Piaget, there are four distinct and main stage of development of children from childhood to adulthood. The first stage is the phase amongst birth of a child to 2 years (Schwarz, 2012, p.260). This phase is known as the sensory-motor stage. In this stage child is regarded as egocentric. As children they do not have the capability to distinguish themselves from rest of the world. Advertisement at this stage can be of no use to the marketers. The second stage is the pre-operational stage. Language and symbolic thinking of a child is developed. Third stage is the stage of concrete operational stage where child can understand the volume of advertisement. This stage is between the age 7 and 11 (Lamb, 2008, p.65). Fourth stage is the formal operational stage, where child develop their logical thinking capability. This theory is vital for marketers to advertise their products to target consumers i.e. children. Environment learning theory This model is used to define the inter-individual deviations among same aged children. Cultural environment and personality of individuals are vital individual variability that can help to understand the variations of children at every age. Albert Bandura and John Watson have effectively contributed to the environmentalist theories. It is believed by environmentalists that environment is vital for shaping behaviour, learning and development of a child (Blades, 2014, p.118). Many educators, schools and families assume that reacting to the environments can help young children to acquire and develop new knowledge in UK. Compare and contrast with different perspectives Overseas findings on junk food advertisement approve to the fact that television commercials for fast food, snacks and sweets are the main strengths of the advertising. Additionally, this increasing number of advertisement is targeted to children. According to a recent study in the year 2007, half of the advisement in UK is based on food. There are no advertisement on vegetables and fruits (Mueller, 2011, p.52). The study states that the uses of taste appeal have been extensively used by food advertisements to sell their products to the children. Many marketers associate advertisements with health benefits and consumption of essential nutrients. This advertisement associated with health benefits and physical activity is denied by The Food Campaign of Children and the British Heart Foundation (Hoyer, 2012, p.482). The foundation concludes that food advertisement plays a pivotal role to encourage children to consume unhealthy products. Unhealthy eatable products are marketed in the television to attract attention of the children. Moreover, it is believed that continuation of unhealthy eating habits can encourage children to continue the habit in to maturity. According to the British heart Foundation, food advertising on television is not the prime factors that affect the choices of children for selection of unhealthy foods. Many factors which contribute towards the choices of children are shape, colour, packaging of the products and celebrity endorsements. In the year 2010, Rudd centre for Obesity and Food Policy illustrated a study by creating a test on children with 4 to 6 years age. The test is conducted without or with famous cartoon character and using identical food items. The result of the study at Yale University indicates that children are more probable to accept the food products with high level of energy and low level of nutrient, when any popular cartoon character appears. Marketers develop effective advertising strategies that can help to build purchasing habits and brand awareness. According to E Harding, traditional marketing strategies such as loyalty clubs and sampling are as effective as modern advertising strategies. Researchers believe that increase in the number of food advertisement has upsurge the rate obesity rate of childhood. In the 1970s, the obesity rate of children aged between 6 and 19 was 4.5 percent. In the 1980s, the obesity rate raised to 9 percent. In the year 2004, over 40,000 advertisements are viewed by children annually (Pardun, 2013, p.31). This statistics is only based on television. The global strategy of the World health Organization is announced to turn introduction of strategy in to action. Furthermore, after the introduction of advertising policies, there were no significant changes initiated by major food companies to combat childhood obesity. Thirteen largest food and beverages businesses such as PepsiCo, Mars, Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola, Burger King, McDonalds, Campbell Soup, etc. made a self-regulation voluntary effort to establish initiative named Children Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. The introduction of new lawsuits for reduction of rate of obesity is rarely regarded as successful. Researcher believes that marketers should be allowed to focus on advertisement for children by following norms and regulation. In the year 2006, a study reported provided vivid information that 36 percent of the advertisement is based on fast-food. This study reveals that food advertisement on television influences mindset of children to force their parents to purchase the products. The possible impact of weight gain of children is exposed by viewing television advertisement. This evidence is totally ignored by the Institute of Medicine. In the year 2007, it is determined by the Institute of Medicine that the evidence provides minimal information about the possible impact of television food advertising on children. Additionally, it did provide approvals for restrictions of use of cartoon character for endorsement of any new products via television. Conclusion This can be concluded that there is a definite link between eating habits of children and advertisements. The epidemic result of childhood obesity is stimulated by children sitting for number of hours in front of TV. At a young age, children have the ability the ability to differentiate between other forms of communication and marketing. Moreover, they are more prone to accept the truthful message and vulnerable to manipulate through the messages of food advertising on television. The introduction of advertising and marketing tactics can provide opportunity to children to implement certain consumer behaviour. Furthermore, it can create negative impact on the mental and physical health of children. One of the prime adverse consequences is childhood obesity. There is a rapid upsurge of obesity in developed countries. Evidence also proves that advertising of unhealthy foods by marketers to children influences not only balance of their diet, but also kind of brand chosen by children. Likewise, this encourages children to eat fatty, dense salty and sugary food than that of nutritious food. In addition, it is clear from the survey and research that added governmental initiatives in necessary to enforce guidelines on food advertising of children. It is imperative to recollect that the introduction of changes in adverting strategies can help to nullify the issues of nutritional drawbacks. References Belch, M., 2003. Advertising and promotion. London: Routledge. Blades, M., 2014. Advertising to children. London: Kogan Page. Cshwarz, E., 2012. Advanced theory and practice. New Jersey: Pearson. Hoyer, W., 2012. Consumer Behaviour. London: Sage. Kotabe, P., 2008. International Marketing. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Lamb, C., 2008. Marketing. London: Prentice Hall. Ma, T., 2014. Professional marketing and advertising. London: Sage. Mueller, B., 2011. Dynamics of international advertising. London: Cambridge University Press. Pardun, C., 2013. Advertising and Society. London: Routledge. Williams, J., 2013. Advances in communication research. New York: Springer. Read More