The Problem of Advertising to Children - Essay Example

?Advertising to Children: A Social Problem Media plays an important role in developing the culture and educating the society. Media has the power of transforming the choices and attitudes of the whole society by merely portraying things in a manner they wish to. People believe in media and somehow take inspiration from the characters on TV, actors in movies, models in magazines, authors of magazines or anchors of Radio. An estimation reveals that on average, Americans watch television for 1550 hours, spend approximately 1160 hours listening to radio programs and nearly 290 hours are spent in reading newspapers, magazines and blogs (Eastman, 2003). It is because of high levels of interaction with media that people tend to fall for the things that they are being shown on it. This paper aims to analyze the effects of media on the choices of young consumers and the negativity of advertisements these days. Advertisement and Smoking Pierce, Lee & Gulpin (1994) analyzed data presented by National Health Interview Surveys and revealed that the smoking rates among adolescent girls increased after the introduction of cigarette advertisements which targeted women and girls (Pierce et al., 1994). Many results of a number of studies and experiments conducted in regards to find out the role of media in increasing smoking habits in adolescents have shown that advertisements by the companies does affect the habit of smoking in one’s life. The advertisement on television, magazines, video games and internet grabs the attention of children and acts as a strong motivational force for them to light a cigarette. They get fascinated to the glamorous way in which the advertisements are made. Television and movies are supposed to have a great impact on alcohol consumption in adolescents. Children, who watch more television, are likely to have increased chances of alcohol consumption. Regardless of the grade of movie, media is continuously exposing alcoholic beverages as a source of fun and fashion. Advertisements during children programs are not carefully designed and contain aggressive behavior, exposure to alcohol and smoking etc. Advertisements today contain sensual messages and images which are contributing to the likelihood of early sexual initiation in adolescents. It has been observed by a study that children’s eating behaviors are much changed than adults because of advertisements. The increased exposure of alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy food on television, magazines, internet and other advertising mediums are affecting children’s dietary habits. It has been observed that advertisers have made it a policy to target younger generation for increased sales and profits. On average children watch tens of thousands of television advertisements annually. This total involves a great number of commercials for unhealthy food stuff (AAP, 2009). Moreover, children watch around 2 thousand beer, wine and alcoholic beverage commercials annually (Strasburger, 2002). It is evident that advertisements do not give a balanced and true picture about the healthy lifestyles and nutritional information but whatever they portray is assumed to be true by the children. Media Exposure and Effects on Children: Nowadays, the importance of media in our lives cannot be ignored. Media is somehow responsible for the changes in society. Children are more likely to adopt the behaviors and lifestyle as shown in the television programs. “It is clear that heavy exposure to media violence causes an increase in the likelihood of future aggressive and violent behavior (Chaves, 2008 p. 148).” It is a scientific concept that media is not the only cause of aggressive behaviors and violence however, it is proved that heavy exposure to media violence increases the chance of future aggressive and violent behaviors. (Lukos 2011) Children get a lot of information from television and believe what they watch. They trust their favorite characters beating the monsters and the so called ‘bad guys’ after having an energy drink or milk or some other product. They perceive it all to be true and are more likely to consume that particular product and imitate those characters in every possible manner. Such portrayals are of course not true and advertisements are exaggerating the energy and effects of products. They target children because children are easily influenced by such fantasies. Advertising these days can easily be criticized for its extreme exaggeration of the effects of products or services being marketed. The marketers give misleading outcomes of the products being offered, use unethical ways to promote the product, uncalled symbols are employed to attract viewers, immoral messages are exposed and unnecessary exposure is eminent in the advertisements today. The work of many researchers is in line with the current conditions of our marketing society. The concepts used by authors which are, still relevant to the modern advertising strategies adopted include the stereotyping and gender exposure in the advertisement. It is, however, not necessarily a moral or social issue until one of the gender is being portrayed as unnecessarily weak, unimportant, less honorable or symbolized as a sex object. The psychological marketing and gaining customer confidence using emotional marketing is still relevant. Marketers pay particular attention to this aspect as the competition has led to a tightly knitted market where prices are not the direct determinant of public choices. The use of current affairs or famous personalities in order to grab the attention of the targeted population regardless of the impacts of such advertisements on the reputation of the specific person or event. The works of Bernays (1928) and Packard (1981) are still relevant in the modern society. The widespread use of false advertisement, unnecessary emphasis on insignificant matters, creative manipulation of ideas and categorization of products to target customers is still in practice. However, both the writers affirm the positive impact on the sales of the products being marketed using false promises, extraordinary exposure to the outcomes or quality of the products and use of cultural and moral messages in the advertisements. The TV advertisements, internet marketing and banners often carry messages which provide an overwhelmingly overstated quality or outcome of their products. Such marketing messages grab the attention of the customers and they often get trapped and purchase the product. However, this exaggerated picture is not an ideal marketing technique as it gains the company with one time buyers who remain dissatisfied and often spread their feelings about the product. One may criticize such advertising and promotional campaigns for their moral, social and ethical consequences. The situation is even worse today as the marketers face some restrictions on the exposure of ethically inappropriate messages and subjects. The marketers now use more creative ways to spread out their unethical or unhealthy ideas like promoting junk food, cigars, cigarettes, alcohol etc. The research papers give an extensive debate on the hidden promoters of such behaviors and choices made by people and give an insight to the effects of such persuaders’ comments on our views and thoughts. Both Bernays (1928) & Packard (1981) are perfect in their own sense as both the methods are perfect for certain businesses. Some businesses adopt an aggressive approach towards advertising whereas some do not but altogether every business does adopt these advertising techniques in one way or the other. Hence it can be concluded that these two articles are still relevant in the society of today. (Doug 2011) Media also plays another harmful effect when it comes to attracting children to products which have a higher content of fat. This factor has played such a major role on the markets that it has been estimated that in the year 2000, children below the age of 13 years of age have been estimated to influence the spending of around 278 dollars on products of their choice. The marketing strategies are focused on food products mainly which drive a child to actually demand for it. These products are mainly unhealthy foods with high fat content. The advertisements and marketing of fast food chains is also a part of it. This works as a manipulative force and it has been argued that targeting children who do not have the maturity to judge what is right and wrong for them is incorrect. Thus this has been counted to be an important contributor towards the development of obesity in children (Blades et al 2005). With the increase in marketing these days it has been noted that different new techniques have arrived which further help in boosting the arenas of marketing. One such technique is the involvement of celebrities while marketing products and is known as celebrity endorsement. Celebrity endorsement is an important arena of marketing, when targeting young consumers, as it defines consumer behavior and choice and forces them to try products of the company because of the trustworthiness of the endorser. Secondly consumer behavior is also an important aspect of marketing as it determines as to when a consumer would buy a product and what techniques should be used. This consumer behavior can help the company to increase its sales if on the right track (Czinkota & Kotabe 2001). In conclusion, we can say that advertisement does impact consumer behavior and choices whether the marketers use exaggeration as their key tool to attract consumers or involve celebrities to grab their attention. A powerful marketing campaign may get the business more consumers for its products. People believe in what is shown in the advertisements or purchase products in order to maintain their social status by brand purchasing. References American Academy of Pediatrics.  Television—what children see and learn.  Available at:  http://www.aap.org/pubed/ZZZNKWJGQ2D.htm?&sub_cat=1. Pierce JP, L Lee, and EA Gilpin. 1994. "Smoking initiation by adolescent girls, 1944 through 1988. An association with targeted advertising". JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association. 271 (8): 608-11. Strasburger VC. 2002. "Alcohol advertising and adolescents". Pediatric Clinics of North America. 49 (2): 353-76. Eastman, W. (June 06, 2003). Beginnings and Beyond: The Relationship between Television Violence and Neurodevelopment of Young Children. Canadian Children,28, 1, 16-20. Escobar-Chaves, S. L., & Anderson, C. A. (June 06, 2008). Media and Risky Behaviors. Future of Children, 18,1, 147-180. Bernays, Edward L. Propaganda. New York: H. Liveright, 1928. Print.Bottom of For Top of Form Packard, Vance. The Hidden Persuaders. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981. Print. GUNTER, B., OATES, C., & BLADES, M. (2005).Advertising to children on tv: content, impact, and regulation. Mahwah, N.J., Lawrence Erlbaum. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=104639702 Czinkota, M.R. and Kotabe, M. (2001), Marketing Management, 2nd ed., South-Western College Publishing, Cincinnati, OH. Doug, . (2011, March 31). Would you vote for a ban on junk food advertising aimed at kids under 13?. Retrieved from http://www.healthhabits.ca/2011/03/31/vote-ban-junk-food-advertising-aimed-kids-13/ Lukos, A. Scott. (2011). The gender ads project. Retrieved from http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/pages/violence.htm Read More