Rebecca Dennison
Liberty University
Abstract
In this technological age, marketers are constantly developing new strategies to promote their products, with children often being the target of their advertisements. These commercials frequently advocate excessive, unhealthy lifestyles, presented in an entertaining format, that lead impressionable children to the conclusion that they desperately need that product. Unique opportunities are therefore increasingly available for American parents to teach their children the proper response to advertising and consumerism.
Those Sneaky Advertising Geniuses!
“Frosted flakes are more than good; they’re GRRRREAT!” exclaimed the author’s six-year-old son Aidan as he sat at the breakfast table one morning. What an endearing, funny little outburst! But in a country where children are a primary focus of national advertisement, parents are growing ever more concerned about the slogans, jingles, and images that are being planted in their children’s heads. Some would say that parents should attempt to remove every avenue of advertisement from the eyes and ears of their young ones; however, unique opportunities are increasingly available for parents to teach their children the proper response to advertising and consumerism.
From food and clothing to video games and toys, American youth are bombarded with commercial promotions. The television is not the only avenue by which advertisements reach children, marketing is everywhere: the internet, in schools, in movies, on buses and billboards, even on clothing. The average child will see approximately 40,000 commercials a year (Cantor, Dowrick, Kunkel, Linn, Palmer, & Wilcox, 2004). Though ads for children are not considered morally wrong, many of them encourage excess junk food consumption. According to CBS news, a study done in 2007 showed that “Children ages 2 to 7 see an average of 30 hours of such [junk food] ads a year. Kids 8 to 12 see 50 hours annually, while teenagers see 40 hours every year” (Cosgrove-Mather, 2007). A majority of the remaining child-targeted commercials promote consumerism, and only a few promote healthy behaviors and eating habits. Figure 1 demonstrates a breakdown of the types of food advertisers market to young people (2008).
While the goals of most marketing campaigns may be to promote awareness, preference, and loyalty to the brand (French & Story, 2004), children are not aware of these agendas. Per French and Story, in their article Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US, “Prior to age 7 or 8 years, children tend to view advertising as fun, entertaining, and unbiased information” (French & Story, 2004). This view of advertisement as ‘just another cartoon’ is evidenced by the four-year-old Evan’s (the author’s child) loud protestations to switching the channel during a commercial, “Hey! I was watching that!” His mother explains to him that it is not a show, but he does not understand that. All he sees are children having fun and enjoying whatever product is currently being touted as the latest thing. Yet, subconsciously his mind is making the connections that he does indeed want the toy that looked like so much fun, and seconds later comes the plea, “Mommy, can I have that? I need it.” That reaction, called “The Nag Factor” (French & Story, 2004), is exactly what manufacturers count on.
Another way that marketing succeeds is by using children’s cartoon and super hero characters on toys and food products. Taking children to the supermarket these days is no easy feat. There are Sponge Bob, Spiderman, and Dora the Explorer characters around every corner. As an adult, it is understood that the box of macaroni and cheese does not taste any better just because there is a well-known figure on the box, but to a child, that food just became manna from heaven! What a sneaky trick of advertising genius!
On top of that are all the slogans, such as “Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!”, and jingles that are permanently stuck in children’s heads, and also admittedly in the heads of their parents (the author has caught herself singing the ‘Goldfish jingle’ on more than one occasion). Those six words about the Trix rabbit, in child-logic, say that rabbits eat carrots, and likewise Trix cereal is a food that should be included in every kid’s diet (See figure 2).
So what should parents do about this advertising mayhem, outside of disposing of their televisions, shutting down their internet, and in essence blindfolding their children every time they step foot outside the home? A recent blog posting by Flexo had some excellent recommendations for parents on dealing with advertising: view every advertisement as a teaching moment, talk to children about what the commercials are attempting to persuade them to buy, teach them to question the truth behind statements that are made about the brand, as well as, ask what the company does not say about it (Flexo, 2010). This blog adds, “If you put a value on being an informed consumer through your interactions with this material world, there’s a good chance your children ... will eventually see the value as well” (Flexo, 2010). The Federal Trade Commission has even created an interactive game, at admondo.gov, to assist parents in teaching children critical thinking skills in regards to advertisements, and to show them how to be good consumers.
From a Christian perspective, advertisements offer a wonderful opportunity to impart valuable spiritual lessons to children. Our consumer-driven society would have children value things of this world over the eternal things of God. Advertisers’ sly messages seem innocent, entertaining, and even funny at times, but they fill the children with materialistic ideas. It is not that the latest toys, or the newest breakfast cereal, are bad things, it’s just that those are not the things that the heart should long for. This is explained quite simply in Matthew 6:19-20 (English Standard Version), “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The onslaught of advertising aimed at American youth shows no signs of slowing down, if anything it is growing. As technology advances, there will be increasing methods available to marketers for children’s commercials. There is reason for parents to be concerned, but they cannot hide from the inevitable -- kids will be exposed to these advertisements. Each and every ad that children hear or see is a potential learning moment. Parents need to be ready to discuss the content of commercials, and how they should respond to them, with their children, as well as to relate to them the blessings of choosing eternal things over the things of this world.
References
Cantor, P. J., Dowrick, P. P., Kunkel, P. D., Linn, E. S., Palmer, P. E., & Wilcox, P. B. (2004).
Psychological issues in the increasing commercialization of childhood. Advertising and
Children , 4. Retrieved from http://www.chawisconsin.org/Obesity/O2ChildAds.pdf
Cosgrove-Mather, B. (2007, March 28). Kids get diet of junk food commercials. CBS News.
Retrieved 2010, from:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/28/health/main2620036.shtml
Flexo. (2010, April 27). How to teach kids about advertising. Message posted to
http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2010/04/27/how-to-teach-kids-about
advertising/
Freedhoff, Y. (2008, April 8). Children’s junk food ad ban in Ontario? Message posted to
http://www.weightymatters.ca/2008/04/childrens-junk-food-ad-ban-in-ontario.html
French, S., & Story, M. (2004, February 10). Food advertising and marketing directed at
children and adolescents in the US. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and
Physical Activity. Retrieved from: http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/1/1/3
Kaiser Family Foundation. (2008, Sepetember 16). Food for thought: Television food
advertising to children in the United States. Retrieved April 29, 2010, from
http://facts.kff.org/chart.aspx?ch=453
Figures
Figure 1
Figure 2
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