Ethics Of Marketing To Children

Commercials through television and radio aimed towards children are ethical because it helps build healthy ideals. Through commercials, children can see that doing certain things are good for you! They can see that it is what they should do. “Advertising and marketing techniques could encourage children to eat

Children are targeted in these ads they try to draw their attention by making the ads fun, and by using cool phrases. Moss proposes and “He explained how he would deploy strategic storytelling in the ad campaign for his snack, using a key phrase that had been developed with much calculations:” Eat’ Em Like Junk Food’ (494).This proves that ads plays a role in promoting food that are unhealthy and is putting children 's health at risk for obesity. To sum it up, children are exposed to high amount of unhealthy food advertisements which affects young children health and food choices. Therefore, the government needs to intervene and stopping the advertisement of unhealthy eating and start advertising healthier foods.

Companies are continuously in search of innovative marketing techniques by encouragingly establishing individuals to purchase their advertised products. As intelligent as marketing companies are, they are indeed aware of the fact that adults are more likely to watch an advertisement and detect why they should or should not purchase such product. In such instances where the company cannot reach the focus of an adult, parent, or parental figure, marketers will target young children and teens in their advertising campaigns. Advertising campaigns targeting the youth have significantly impacted the ethical consideration in the children’s market through media, ethics, as well as food advertising to children.

As people continue to live with advertisements, they may alter who we are in some aspects of life. In Eric Schlosser's acclaimed book, Fast Food Nation, the "Kid Kustomers" chapter puts the spotlight on children's advertising, how it affects them, and what Madison Avenue does to achieve in such a field. Schlosser notes that advertisers persuade children by convincing them into various nagging tactics [to be continued]. [Elaborate on Schlosser's excerpt in no more than 2-3 sentences; reflect back to my early years of computer use, notably when my parents scolded me for going into a questionable site]. Keep in mind that kids are not the only ones to be easily persuaded by advertisements. The most vital weaponry advertisers use to snatch kids and adults likewise are — simply put — words. American linguist William Lutz presents "weasel words" in his article, "With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything," and how advertisements use these manipulative words to cheapen the lives of consumers. Words like "help," "virtually," "new," and much more to list, easily convince people to believe that some products will do as advertised. For the most part, the ads for those products are dishonest as their words mean nothing in truth. The trick with "weasel words" is they lead consumers into a fantasy, and typically they will not be able to make this distinction. Companies can be hit by lawsuits depending on the context of their ads, however they will continue to trick consumers into believing the life-changing, but hollow potential of their products in any case. On the whole, advertisements shape us as individuals in some circumstances as we regularly take them for

Although seeing one’s favorite celebrity on television can be exciting for children, it can lead to a misunderstanding between the child and the representation of the product. For example, in the article “Kids Finally Speak on Celebrity-Based Ads for Food and Beverages,” the authors state that children can misunderstand a product that is unhealthy for them as a product that can make them as fit and healthy as their idol. Although celebrities are useful in the marketing strategies used in business on a daily basis one must look closely at the impact the advertisement will have on the target audience. This impact includes health impacts on the children today and the future generations to come. For the reasons that follow, celebrities should not advertise or endorse products that are unhealthy for children or teenagers because the motivation of the celebrities to endorse such products are in question and children are

I feel as if we need to protect childern from targeted advertising. Childern can be persuaded very easily compared to teens and adults. Companys use simple things that catch a child's eye like superheros and toys to make them want something even more, fast food restaurants usually do that type of adertising. In the passage they explain how childern influence their parents to spend $249 billion a year. That number is just going to grow if they don't stop this kind of advertising. Advertising show harmful negative messages to kids world wide. Like smoking, and drinking commericals. They show these type of things like if only "cool guys and girls" do it so it persuades them to want to try it.

“The rate of obesity in children has nearly tripled in the last quarter century”(American Psychological Association). Children receive the most exposure to advertisements due to the amount of television they watch and online games they play. At an early age, children shape their first opinions on what they like and dislike, so just by watching advertisements they can develop product preferences for unhealthy foods that lead to poor eating habits. “In very young children, research has found that for every one-hour increase in television viewing per day, there are higher intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, fast food, red and processed meat, and overall calories”(American Psychological Association). Advertisements targeted at children use colorful images and characters to attract them to their products and add labels like “multi grain,” “no sugar added,” and “all natural” to influence parents to buy their products. But most of these food claims are unregulated and open to abuse. “Approximately 20 percent of our youth are now overweight with obesity rates in preschool age children increasing at alarming speed”(American Psychological Association). Naturally, being obese as children puts them at risk of being obese as adults, which can lead to health problems such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some forms of cancer. In addition, advertising causes

Marketing to children is not a new phenomenon; however, there have been many ethical debates on its rightness; is advertising to children a gentle persuasion of the innocent or a sinister threat to our society? There’s too much as stake if we remain silent and simply assume that marketing companies have our children’s best interests at heart; the truth is they don’t. This paper will explore to implications of marketing to children and the overall effects it has on our society. I will argue that advertising to children is a social problem. In the first part of my paper I will discuss why advertising to children is ethically wrong, I will then discuss what has changed; this will be followed by a discussion as to why it is a social problem and finally, I will conclude my paper by discussing what should be done to change it. Please note this paper is written in the first person as I have children and I have a vested interest in this topic.

Children under the age of six “cannot distinguish between advertisements and regular programming” and those under eight “do not comprehend the persuasive nature of advertisements” (American Psychological Association). Children have a remarkable ability to remember content from ads that they have been exposed to (American Psychological Association). “Research has found strong associations between increases in advertising in non-nutritious food and rates of childhood obesity” (American Psychological Association). During on study researchers looked at the effect of branding, the research used children 3 to 5 years old, two portions of identical foods were given, one in McDonald’s wrapping and the other not in the wrapping, the children would say that the food in the McDonald’s wrapper tasted better (Klass). This study shows how children are being influenced by what advertisements they view. In young children, research has shown “that for every one-hour increase in [television] viewing per day, there are high intakes of … fast food …” (American Psychological Association). And with children who “watch more than 3 hours of television a day are 50 percent more likely to become obese…” (American Psychological

Psychologists have said that ads have a negative effect on kids, I believe that as well. As a mother, I would not want my child to feel "inferior." If I was not able to afford what was on an advertisment, I would not want my child to be made fun of because he was not "cool" like the ad said he would be. The world is not kind to little minds, expecially school age

Psychologists point out that the “media blitz” targets what is known to be a vulnerable group because children lack the ability to “discern when they are being manipulated.” That means that unlike adults, children are being sucked in unknowingly to believe the messages advertisers create. Their mind is being changed without knowing it – adults at least are aware that companies are trying to get them to buy or believe something. Kids simply can’t understand what’s happening to them. As part of the new media blitz, not only are children being advertised to without parents’ knowledge, like at sleepovers, but they are also being marketed to in places that are traditionally marketing free: schools, daycares, and homes. In an American Psychologists Association article, “Driving Teen Egos – and buying – through ‘branding’” a psychologist who supports regulating advertising to teens, Allen D. Kanner, PhD, points out that children suffer because “The message that doesn't reach teens is that what is important is ‘how you think, what you like...and who you are’” rather than what and how much stuff you have. In the same article, Margo Maine, PhD, who works with girls with eating disorders, mentions the effects on girls especially: “Teenage girls spend over $9 billion on makeup and skin products alone, an example of advertisers

food ads that target children and the promotion of unhealthy products vs. healthy products. As well as how companies can convince parents and kids to buy these things.

Fast food advertisement agencies take advantage of the ignorance of children to scam them into wanting unhealthy meals. Each year, the fast food industry spends over $3 million of advertising targeted towards children. Half of television advertisement is used during children’s shows and with cartoons. Out of all the factors

When it comes down to ethical guidelines it is pertinent that every industry have them. However, when consumers think of the marketing industry, they tend to think those are the most unethical people participating in those jobs. Marketing too has some ethical guidelines, but to what extent are they being followed to have consumers thinking otherwise? Marketing is supposed to make honest claims and satisfy the needs and wants of the customers. It is supposed to develop brand loyalty, to in turn increase customer retention, bring in new clientele, and boost company creditability to differentiate it, from its competitors. Unfortunately, that is not the case in parts of the industry where consumers automatically think “unethical” when they hear the word “marketing”. There are many forms of unethical marketing such as; surrogate advertising, exaggeration, puffery, unverified claims, stereotyping women, false brand comparisons, and Children in advertisements. All are which, are pretty common throughout the industry and many are seen being used at the same time during marketing campaigns. Focusing in on children in advertising there are many cases where advertising is targeted to exploit the innocence in children. Advertising to children may be very attractive to marketers because of the impression advertisements tend to make on them, which affects their future purchasing decisions and those around them. “Children are a lucrative market” According to McGee (1997, p. 52). Children

Food advertisements, if focused at the right people and in the right places, are a complete success. These features, some of which are commercials, seduce society into buying food that we necessarily do not need. Many advertisement companies, especially those about food, are directed to children because they know that if you grab the kids you have their parents. While brands are using fun cartoons like “Trix Rabbit” and “Toucan Sam” (Green, 2007, p. 49) supermarkets are taking these items and placing them right in front of the children, at their level, advertising the “Fun foods” (Elliot, 2008, p. 259-273). They do this so the kids will use their, “pester power” (Scholsser, n.d., p. 2) to get what they want. A series of studies have been performed on children and television advertisements. An article states, “These studies have generally linked children's television viewing to negative health effects” (Korr, 2008, p. 451). Amongst these negative effects is a higher level of childhood obesity (p. 451). Similarly, in another study performed by a group of researchers, kids were asked to explain the television commercials that they remembered the best. The answers given were then compared with their diets. Interestingly, the items those children remembered best, chips, sweets, and sodas were a huge part of what they ate (Hitching & Moynihan, 1998, p. 511-517). However, some authors argue that television producer’s, even though their