As a Marketing major and an aspiring stay-at-home mother I am very interested in the methods of advertising to children and the effects of advertising to children.  I work at the Center for Young Children on campus and interact with 3-5 year olds for several hours a week.  I can observe from these children some of the effects that TV in general has on them and I am interested to find out more about the effects of advertising in particular. 

In recent years the avenues for advertising to children have increased.

            Recently it has become easier for children’s advertising to be separated from adult advertising and targeted.  With the new style of television channels that target specific audiences there has come a plethora of channels devoted just to children, giving a direct line for companies to send messages to children.  There has also been an increase in child aimed websites and in the access that children have to the internet.  These websites easily infiltrate content and advertising not only tailoring ads to children as a whole but tailoring ads specifically to individual viewers.  Perhaps the most worrisome avenue for children’s advertising is ads in schools.  Schools now make contracts with food and drink providers and use only those products in school.  They also have corporate sponsorships that may help pay for books, sports, arts, etc. which are often accompanied by supplies emblazoned with the company logo.

Effects of advertising on children are both short-term and long-term.

            The advertisements aimed at children can have the immediate effect of a child asking for a product but they can also have effects that last longer.  Through repeated exposure a child’s brand preference can be manipulated and therefore form a lifelong loyalty to a specific brand.  An unintended result of ads aimed at children is the parent-child conflict.  Because parents have to deny some requests children often fight and/or get angry with their parents and this leads to conflict in the home and in the parent-child relationship. Some scholars have also hypothesized that exposure to advertisements leads to a materialistic outlook. 

There are many different ways in which the negative effects of children’s advertising are trying to be counteracted.

            Some believe that the best way to deal with what seems like an inevitable evil is to teach children more critical viewing skills at a younger age.  This means educating children about advertisements and their intentions and showing them how to view with caution.  Although this seems like a good option children under the age of about 8 do not have the cognitive skills to view ads critically.  The FCC and the FTC have both enacted policies to help protect children from the negative effects of advertising and to regulate said advertising.  

            In my interviews with my experts I will ask them 1.How do they think that children are effected by advertising? 2.Should companies be able to advertise directly to children?Why or why not? 3.Should schools be allowed to place advertisements on school grounds?Why or why not? 4. Is there ever an occasion when it is ok to directly advertise to children?If so when?

listen to ‘People on the Street: Should restrictions be put on advertising to children?’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘people on the street 2’ on Audioboo