Government agencies like CARU (Children's Advertising Review Unit) provide marketers with some guidance as to what constitutes responsible marketing toward children (in case marketers lack common sense or a basis understanding of business ethics). These recommendations are based upon the assumptions that: 1) children cannot understand the selling intent of commercials and 2) children cannot understand the content of commercials. Some of these smart recommendations include:
- Advertising should not be deceptive or unfair
- Advertising should distinguish between reality and fantasy (and commercials and programing)
- Advertising should show children how to use the product appropriately taking the proper safety precautions
- Disclaimers should be stated in terms that children understand
- Advertisements should not tell children that a product will enhance their social status or that their parents are better than others for having bought the advertised product
However, after having a child and watching his reactions to different forms of advertising, I have come to realize that advertisements have a very strange power and influence on children that is perhaps a little scary. Here are some examples:
- Before talking, our one year old would become entranced whenever this popular Norfolk Southern commercial came on - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOtQgM8Hc60. You could not detract his attention away from the television when it was on.
- While on vacation at two years old, planes would fly over the beach with banners. Our son particularly liked the Geico banner featuring the Gecko. Afterward, anytime he saw an airplane, he would say, "Look Mom. It's Geico!"
- At age three, our child’s letter to Santa included a complete list of every single boy’s toy advertised on Disney or Nick Jr. He did not ask for anything he had seen at a friend’s house or at preschool.
- At age three, our son also lectures us (and Santa, in his letter) about the difference between boys and girls toys by describing who he sees playing with different types of toys on Disney and Nick Jr.
I’m not saying that current regulations and best practices are not enough. But having a child has definitely taught me a lot about the power of commercials on young children – and I do not like it. More research needs to go into understanding how children process content from advertisements. Social and regulatory controls will definitely need to evolve with this research. On the positive side, my college students do not seem to pay much attention to commercials. So, the strange influence of commercials on my child will probably get better over time and hopefully not do any lasting harm.
Any other thoughts out there about the issue of children and advertising and what should be done from a parental, societal or regulatory standpoint? Does anyone have any clever ideas about potential research studies that could fill in some of the knowledge gaps in this area?
Love this post (and that you're blogging), Jenn. I teach a Public Policy and Marketing class in which we discuss this topic at length. While a bit dated, this video captures a lot of good points. Have you seen it? http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=134 It generates some great discussion in class. As you know I have no kids, but believe we, as a society, need to re-think our approach to advertising to children.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen it, but will definitely check it out. Thanks!
DeleteOh, and on the "my college students do not seem to pay much attention to commercials" point....check to see how many of them wear branded clothing, carry branded bags, water bottles, etc. They're more impacted than they will admit (or realize). Especially the ones who say, "ads have no impact on me..." Oh yeah? I beg to differ.
ReplyDeleteI do not have any children yet, so I don't have personal experience, but I do believe ads that are put out into public via internet, billboards, commercials, ect, it is hard to have your children stray away from seeing it. You can only control what your children see so much. Ads should be appropriate to all viewers. People are impacted greatly by ads, and what companies convey to the general public will pursue their potential buying behavior.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on when you say there should be further research on how children are impacted by ads. I know that children seeing ads stimulate their brains, but do they remember them, and if they do…for how long?
I think this is a very interesting topic and from other classes i have taken it has been a subject that has been mentioned. Some countries do not even allow advertisements so it is easy to see how parents may be worried to what their children are exposed to.
ReplyDeleteI found a great article from the guardian at http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/advertising-to-children-tricky-business-subway
The most surprising statistic is that, "in the US, the average child watches an estimated 16,000 television commercials a year." That is a tremendous amount of material children are exposed to. The article continues to say, "advertising isn't the issue. The sort of advertisements that children see is the issue. But then you get into a very objective debate about how people feel about certain brands or services."
I think this is a great point because advertisements may really not be the problem but the content is. This is a great way to look at the controversy over the issue of advertising to children. Companies may have to take a second look at their work before submitting it to make sure the public will be okay with it and not create any backlash.
I think that this is an interesting topic and I have no doubt that it is important to be careful about what advertisements we are exposing children to. While I agree that there are obvious examples of poor choices in advertising (Joe Camel), I wonder how much we can really do beyond that. At some point, I think that children are just naturally inquisitive and will be captivated by their surroundings no matter how much we try to police things. Basically, I think that there is no way to limit the power that advertisements have on children, unless you eliminated them completely.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very interesting how your son has picked up on commercials and even knows which toys are for boys based on the commercials instead of what his friends have. Personally, I rarely pay attention to commercials at all. Whether it's on the tv or radio. My younger brother has a habit of muting the TV while commercials are on even if no one is talking. He would prefer to sit in silence for a few minutes over listening to the commercials. I don't know where he picked this up but he is 18 and has been doing it as long as I can remember. With such a busy schedule at school, I rarely watch shows during their scheduled time and end up watching them on Netflix or online where the commercials are omitted. When I am watching tv though I have a "back up" channel to watch while the show I'm watching is on commercial. I'd be interested to know if this is something most people do or if it's just my family.
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting because during my time at High Point University I have taken a lot of advertising classes. In all of these classes we learn that as much as we think commercials do not effect us, they actually have a huge effect on how we feel about products. One of the things about advertising and commercials that I have always been against is the practices of targeting at children.The reason that they target children are for two reasons. The first is that when children see commercials and then they are in stores with their mother the children may decide that they want the product and throw a hissy fit until they get it. A mother may do almost anything to quiet a screaming child in the store. Second, we learned that targeting commercials at children will hopefully get the brand in their mind at a young age and they will be consumers when their old enough. For example beer and liquor companies may do this. The thing about advertisements is no matter how many regulation are put on them or where they can go there will always be advertising. The way we can help keep everyone safe from advertising is by teaching people how they really do effect us.
ReplyDeleteI can totally see the vulnerability in children being influenced the wrong ways by advertising. The people making the ads are older, competent and intellectually developed people in society and a child is so susceptible to listening to these people and taking it the wrong way. Most people look at a Geico airplane and think of insurance, where a child will just think its a flying gecko in the sky. There absolutely has to be serious precautions in what people are trying to target at children or we can seriously mess up some kids. I have seen the way that children can get sucked into a television and not be able to break contact with it, so there has to be careful guidelines as to what types of ads these kids come into contact with and the perception that they may have of it.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog post and I think that a lot can be said for a parent who considers both the negative and the positive implications of advertising on their children. Now as advertising becomes even more deceptive (as public relations agencies gain strong footholds in news media and in seemingly "unbiased" sources), I feel that is must be even harder for a still-developing mind to separate fact from fiction. My parents are in their late forties, and they don't realize that when a character in a Discovery channel tv show, or from a reality series, is using a very specific product, it probably was not unintentional. I think that's because advertising has changed so much to combat the (understandably) skeptical impressions of consumers. With all of the disguises that advertising now wears, how could a child (at a very impressionable stage) possibly be able to decipher when someone has an outside agenda? Especially if their parents cannot even catch subtle messages targeted at their children.. it may be a slippery slope, or maybe one day we'll become accustomed to these strategies, as we have to traditional advertising. Very interesting post.
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