Should Advertising to Children be Banned - Essay Example

Should Advertising to Children be Banned? College: Should Advertising to Children be Banned? In the 21st century business environment, media advertisement has become an important part of product promotional strategies in organizational marketing. Organizations use advertisements to push their products and target a broad range of customers. As competition in marketing increases, organizations have ignored ethical consideration of marketing, which has triggered controversy in the world. Advertisements that target children have become controversial as more people support their stoppage. One of the arguments is that such advertisements are misguided as they target young consumers who do not have a purchasing power and cannot make their own decisions. Secondly, the psychological impact of such advertisements is severe to children who have not yet established an identity. However, those against the banning of children targeted advertisement argue that this would be limiting media freedom and that it would infringe on the need to integrate children as part of the society. From a close observation, children advertisements have long-term impacts on the children’s life and they form part of the media mainstream that contributes to social-corruptness. From this perspective, all advertisements targeting should be banned to exclude children from product consumerism. While children form a critical part of the consumer population, they do not have the purchasing power and the knowledge to make their decisions. However, organizations are targeting children to solicit them to demand for products that they see on the media mainstream. It raises question on whether children have the knowledge to choose the right products for themselves or they react emotionally when demanding for products that they viewed in the daily adverts. The proponents of the idea that such advertisements should be shunned argue that targeting children is an indirect marketing strategy that fails to consider accountability from customers (Neeley & Schumann, 2004). Such products may influence children to demand products that they do not understand and who value they are unaware of (Adler, 2010: Blair, 2005) Recently, a parent complained that they faced the challenge of convincing their children that eating snacks, advertised in the media, was unhealthy. Children will often feel unloved when parents do not buy such products for their use, even when such products are unsuitable. From this ground, it would be advisable for marketers to target adults who can make rational decisions based on their understanding of the products. Therefore, a censorship of children-targeted advertising would be essential to ensure that children do not crave for products whose value they do not understand. The psychologists have raised pertinent issues that point out negative consequences of advertising products to children. Young (2010) pointed out that advertising to children leads to identity crisis among children as they adjust to associate life with what they see. Psychology has it that children above 2 years are in the learning stage and most of the knowledge is created by the things they see within their immediate environment. Between the concrete operational stage period of child development, children engage in idealistic reasoning and they feel that what they see is the ideal nature of the world. Therefore, children use advertisement to construct the mental world with the idea that the social world would be the same as portrayed within the media. For instance, children who watch advertisements that show parents kissing their children are more responsive to such acts. From this angle of view, it is indisputable that children advertisements have a direct influence on the children growth and may lead to identity disorientation. Therefore, advertisement will lead to the formation of a generation that is negatively affected in the psychological perspective. Research on materialism and advertising to children has revealed that these programs influence the children’s behaviors as they grow. The attractiveness of media advertisements inspires desire in children, which makes them associate their happiness with material products. For instance, a child that sees an advertisement for foodstuffs back at home is likely to identify them while they go to the supermarket. Since most companies brand their products as the source of ‘happiness” such children may adopt this in their life. The relationship between Obesity and advertisements has become an important matter of consideration. While the society is striving to fight the war against lifestyle-related diseases, it is clear that advertisements are frustrating these efforts (Kang, 2000). The urge to discourage children from unhealthy eating habits have become important, however frustrated by the materialism that the advertisements have created. Children who learnt about fast foods in their tender age are likely to engage in unhealthy eating as soon as they grow up (Handsley, Mehta & Coveney, 2014). Children grow while they are aware of the cheapness of these products and their deliciousness. Therefore, as soon children grow up they will demand for these junk foods from their parents, a time when it will be difficult to discourage them. In a nutshell, the increase in media advertisement to children has become an obstacle to social-transformation. Moreover, the concern on the morality of advertisements has become an important issue when considering the plight of children. Often, children-targeted advertisements are immoral and may influence children towards negative habits. In the recent past, advertisements on contraception have become more common, as the world becomes more sensitive to the health and economic roles of persons in the country (Macklin & Carlson, 2009). Companies that specialize in these products are using such advertisements as one way of contributing to the family planning campaigns across the world as part of their corporate social responsibilities. However, the content of such ad programs is sometimes obscene and children learn to associate with what they see. For instance, the portrayal of half-naked bodies may inspire the desire for photographic content in children. Other programs such as baby lotion advertisement programs that use models for advertisements may inspire children to wear model-like clothes. Since children do not understand the main product of the advertisement, anything that they see within the program forms part of the knowledge that they use in future (Flay, dAvernas, Best, Kersell & Ryan, 2012). From a close observation, banning child-targeted advertisements may be crucial in helping children acquire a moral identity as they grow up. Worse still, advertisements targeting children have long-term impacts within the society. Connell, Brucks & Nielsen (2014) established that advertisements that children encounter during their tender age affects their future decision making process. The implication of this claim is that children will often practice what they have learnt from media in future as they are the familiar norms (Moore & Rideout, 2007). While many children may watch advertisements passively, it is surprising that they may pick more information than the parents acquire from the advertisements. Since they do not pay attention to any specific detail within the advertisements, they will pay attention to every detail within the film and be attracted to some of them. For instance, a child may be excited to watch a baby diaper advert, not because of the product, but because of a cartoon image somewhere at the middle of the advertisement. Similarly, an alcohol advertisement that features a cartoon character in its content may be attracting to the child (Young, 2003). Therefore, a child who admires cartoons may be attracted to alcohol drinking in future as they figure such products as attractive. The consequences of such media advertisements will have more negative impacts than intended within the society. However, the value of children advertising sheds light on the positive side of the same issue. Research has focused closely on the impact of the social-cognitive aspect of children. While advertisements targeting children may have long-term negative impacts to children, there is evidence that they may improve the mental abilities in children. Challenging the children mind is a feature that the theories of social learning have paid a lot of attention. Children who are exposed to the media are much more curious, decisive, and knowledgeable. Children advertising value emanates from the ability to create a knowledgeable society with sharp and curious children (Sheehan, 2013). Besides, the idea of integrating children as part of the society has become an important focus for marketers. The aim of marketers is to indiscriminately create products that show the image of the society by engaging all individuals. Therefore, making advertisements that target children is part of their strategy to create an all-round marketing plan that involves all individuals within the society. Considering these factors, it is clear that advertisements have some positive impacts in children within the society and they may contribute to social and academic skills development in future. Contrally, whenever the issue of banning advertisements arises, the issue of its legitimacy arises. While there is adequate evidence that advertisements may be misleading young children, the complexity of the matter applies in its legal consideration (Caraher, Landon & Dalmeny, 2006). To begin with, preventing the mainstream media from advertising their products may attract a legal course action as they consider this an infringement of their rights to freedom of expression. The freedom of expression of the media allows them to provide information within the public as long as that information does not infringe on the rights of others. The opponents of the idea of banning such advertisements argue that the public has the absolute right not to view the advertisement within the domestic homes. The idea is that parents should take personal control of what their children should or should not view from the mainstream media. Parents have the responsibility to choose good and bad things for their children and the same should be as pertains to media content (Cross, 2002). While this lot admits that the media may have negative impacts within the society, they rest the duty of responsibility to the parent and supports media freedom as one way of shaping the society. The practicality of the issues has also become an important perspective of the debate on advertisements that target children. Evidently, there are a wide range of product advertisements that may negatively influence social attitudes and have lasting psychological impacts on children. Since the advertisements are displayed on the media, there is no clear cutline on advertisement targeting children and those targeting adults. Therefore, it would be a difficult challenge to separate them. Besides, there is evidence that some adverts that target adults have worse impacts to children than those targeting children (Jill & Lynn Reed, 2010). For instance, adverts on contraception may influence the morality of children, despite the fact that they are designed for adults. Arguing from this perspective, it would be unfair to ban only those advertising targeting children because they have even less severe impacts to the children’s life. However, it would imply closing all programs that may have implication on children. The economic impacts of such a move would be far reaching including destabilizing the economy of the world (OBarr, 2008). From a critical point of view, there is need for an intensified censorship for advertisements and the communication authorities should work along with the marketers to design more public-sensitive advertisements to protect our children from misleading product promotion campaigns. In conclusion, the debate on advertisements that target children leads to the need for a collaborative approach in the design of advertisements. There is enough evidence that advertisements have negative connotations on the minds of children and may lead to materialism in the future of such children. Since children associate life with the knowledge deposited on the surrounding, it is apparent that the misleading nature of advertisements may lead to social corruptness. However, banning advertisements may lead to freedom of expression conflict as organizations find it illegal for the government to control their business models. Additionally, targeting specific advertisement programs may be unfair to companies that sell children products and may lead to negative economic repercussions. Therefore, the situation begs for a more realistic solution that balances the needs of the society and the freedom of companies to engage the most profitable business models. The value of protecting children from misleading information is crucial in shaping the society. Therefore, the government needs to join hands with the marketers and the public to design more appropriate product promotion campaigns that protect the society and foster business success. An integrative approach to marketing will promote the economic and social value of advertisements in the society. References Adler, R. (2010). The effects of television advertising on children: review and recommendations. Lexington Books. Blair, R. J. R. (2005). A cognitive developmental approach to morality: Investigating the psychopath. Cognition, 57(1), 1-29. Caraher, M., Landon, J., & Dalmeny, K. (2006). Television advertising and children: lessons from policy development. Public Health Nutrition, 9(05), 596-605. Connell, P. M., Brucks, M., & Nielsen, J. H. (2014). How Childhood Advertising Exposure Can Create Biased Product Evaluations That Persist into Adulthood. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(1), 119-134. Cross, G. (2002). Valves of desire: A historian’s perspective on parents, children, and marketing. Journal of Consumer Research, 29(3), 441-447. Flay, B. R., dAvernas, J. R., Best, J. A., Kersell, M. W., & Ryan, K. B. (2012). Cigarette smoking: Why young people do it and ways of preventing it. Pediatric and adolescent behavioral medicine, 10, 132-183. Handsley, E., Mehta, K., & Coveney, J. (2014). A Childrens Rights Perspective on Food Advertising to Children. International Journal Of Childrens Rights, 22(1), 93-134. doi:10.1163/15718182-55680024 Jill Austin, M., & Lynn Reed, M. (2010). Targeting children online: Internet advertising ethics issues. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 16(6), 590-602. Kang, J. H. (2000). Barbie Banished from the Small Screen: The Proposed European Ban on Childrens Television Advertising. Nw. J. Intl L. & Bus., 21, 543. Macklin, M. C., & Carlson, L. (Eds.). (2009). Advertising to children: Concepts and controversies. Sage Publications. Moore, E. S., & Rideout, V. J. (2007). The Online Marketing of Food to Children: Is It Just Fun and Games?. Journal Of Public Policy & Marketing, 26(2), 202-220. doi:10.1509/jppm.26.2.202 Neeley, S. M., & Schumann, D. W. (2004). Using animated spokes-characters in advertising to young children: does increasing attention to advertising necessarily lead to product preference?. Journal of Advertising, 33(3), 7-23. OBarr, W. M. (2008). Children and advertising. Advertising & Society Review, 9(4). Sheehan, K. B. (2013). Controversies in contemporary advertising. Sage Publications. Young, B. (2003). Does food advertising influence children’s food choices? A critical review of some of the recent literature. International journal of Advertising, 22(4), 441-459. Young, B. (2010). Children and advertising. Understanding children as consumers, 115-131. Read More