Advertising Starts Young

Natalie Matesic
nm989014@ohio.edu

At what age do we draw the line with feeding our children content that will forever effect the way they think, buy, produce, and live their day-to-day lives? Where does this age start?

I'm sure we all remember being kids, watching Nickelodeon and seeing ads for everything from Hot Wheels to Barbie and Polly Pocket dolls, and so much more. We all remember our favorite commercials when we were kids such as the rolling can of Campbell's soup ad, or the Christmas time Hershey Kiss ads.

These advertisements forever changed and dictated the way our brains functioned and the way we consumed media and products. This idea of buy, buy, buy was ingrained in our minds since before we even knew what advertisements were.

Advertising doesn't affect MY child though, right?
How old were you when you saw your first beer commercial? I can't say exactly when my first time was, but I know it was way before I was actually legally allowed to drink it.

A health researcher at Claremont Graduate University did an experiment on students from 7th to 10th grades' exposure to alcohol advertisements.

This experiment showed that this sort of advertising being fed to our children increases the odds of underage drinking and results in higher levels of delinquency.

This proves that advertising does actually effect children in ways that we never expected.

The American Psychological Association (APA) states, "[a] variety of studies have found a substantial relationship between children's viewing of tobacco and alcohol ads and positive attitudes toward consumption of such products. Children find many such commercials attractive (e.g., Joe Camel, the Budweiser frogs) and consequently have high brand awareness of such products and positive attitudes toward them."

This creates problems for when children grow up and believe that these products are harmless. I mean, the TV told me they were harmless, so they have to be, right?

This can also be applied to violent advertisements. Children are easy targets. This sort of media can alter the way they see violence and can be very harmful for when they grow up.

Advertising is hard to get away from. It's everywhere you go, in everything you do...etc.

"It is estimated that advertisers spend more than $12 billion per year to reach the youth market and that children view more than 40,000 commercials each year. These figures represent dramatic increases over those from the 1970s."

That's over 100 commercials a day the youth of America is consuming. Not to mention ad placement in movies and TV shows, or online advertising, and so much more to constantly ensure that we are engaging in consumerism.

Courtesy of health.howstuffworks.com

But what can be done?
The APA states that a lot can be done, but the question is whether or not those measures will be taken.

These measures include advertising disclaimers, restricted advertising toward children, more work that psychologists can do to study the full effects of advertising on children, and so much more.

We know though that advertising means money, which means that unless a large reason is presented to end advertising toward adolescents, it will never stop.

Parents are advised to reduce screen time for children. It is also advised to watch the media that children are watching along with them so that you know exactly what they are consuming. This can lead to discussions with children about what advertisements are and avoid confusion in the future.