Controversial Advertisement For Children

Controversial TelevisionAdvertising for Children

Today's children are unique in many ways from previous generations, but perhaps the most influencing on our young children today is Television advertisements. "In 1997, the nation's estimated 34 million children age 12 and under will have spent or influenced spending of a record $500 billion" (Horovitz 1997). There is obviously a great deal of interest in this subject, many books have been written, and many studies and reports done on the effects of TV advertising on children. In the following paragraphs we will look at some of the reasons why we advertise to children, some different positive and negative effects of TV advertisement on children, how people can cut through the hype of TV ads and pick good things for their children.

Why Do We Advertise to Children?

Today, everywhere we go we see some type of advertising. A sale at the supermarket or a billboard for a radio station, are two of the many forms of advertisement. Currently, advertisements that target children are very controversial.

Marketers choose children because they can easily lure them in. Advertisers spent $105.97 billion in 1980. This number more than doubled in 2001 when it reached $230 billion (Laws, 2003). In the year 2000, the Census reported 105 million househ0olds in America, meaning advertisers spend an average of $2,190 on one household per year. Advertisers spend this much money because of television. The average child sees an estimate of more than 20,000 commercials every year - that works out to at least 55 commercials per day (Laws, 2003). Children will insist their parents purchase what they see or hear on television. In the 1960's, children had an influence on about $5 billion of their parent's purchases. That figure increased to $50 billion in 1984 and tripled to $188 billion in 1997. James McNeal, a kids marketing expert, estimates children twelve and under will influence $500 billion of family purchases by the year 2000 (Laws, 2003).

Children don't just have their parents buy their toys, but they make purchases of their own. Children's spending has roughly doubled every ten years for the past three decades, and has tripled in the 1990's. Kids ages 4 to 12 spent $2.2 billion in 1968 and $4.2 billion in 1984. By 1994, the figure climbed to $17.1 billion and by 2002, their spending exceeded $40 billion. Kids direct buying power is expected to exceed $51.8 billion by 2006 (Laws, 2003). No matter how you look at it, advertisers choose children because they are the most easily influenced and will spend their money if they find something interesting.

Only Good Things Happen When You Advertise to Kids.

There are not many people in the world today that would disagree with the fact that children are our future. Children are the ones that must carry on family traditions, continue to build and develop new public projects, and continue to learn and expand the knowledge of the human race. With that said it is important to understand that children are also future consumers. They are the engines that will drive the economy for the next generation, for advertisers the future is now.

Advertising to children has long been a very successful way to build a solid consumer base that will win the minds of children in order to secure a lifetime of consumer purchasing. It may sound heartless but the fact is it works, and advertising to children is big business. According to the article "Kids Upfront Outlook is Grim" by Wayne Friedman and David Goetzl, "Companies spent about $800 million last year advertising on network, syndication, cable and local shows targeting kids aged 2 to 14." Eight hundred million is a lot of money, and advertisers want to see a return on that kind of investment. According to Karen J. Pine and Avril Nash in the article "Dear Santa: The Effects of Television Advertising on Young Children," people must "understand that the advertiser's motive is to sell a product." It is easy to see how directly advertising to children can generate huge profits for companies, there by helping our economy. According to Marci McDonald and Marianne Lavelle authors of the article, "Call it Kid-Fluence," James McNeal, a retired professor from Texas A&M University said, "children ages 4 to 12 last year spent $29 billion of their own money--from allowances, baby-sitting fees, and handouts their parents doled out on trips to the mall." Now, it doesn't take an economist to figure out that $29 billion in revenue on an advertising investment of $800 million equals big profits for manufactures of children's products. Don't think that it's just America that benefits from children's advertising, it is a global business strategy, the European Union estimates to generate between $620 to $930 million a year in revenue from marketing products to children. However, advertising to children does not only bring in funds from the children but more importantly, it generates what experts call "The Nag Factor." The "Nag Factor" is when a child sees an ad for a product then cries and complains to a parent until the parent purchases the item. According to the article "Temptation-free Television for Children?" by Pascaline Dumont, Over half of all families have reported to agree with a child's request just to avoid an argument. McNeal emphasizes the "Nag Factor" when he claims that, "2 to 12 year olds had an indirect impact on another $320 billion of household purchases. Over the last five years, there's been a substantial increase in the amount of influence kids have on durable goods--cars, boats, big-ticket items. The power in the household is being ceded to the children." John Geraci, vice president of youth research at Harris Interactive, agrees with McNeal and the importance of children's influence when he states that a child's spending is not near as economically lucrative as their influence over the households spending habits. However, according to Dumont, many American psychologists criticize advertising methods, claiming they border on mind control. Well, good for them! What better way to ensure a life long, loyal costumer than to brainwash a child into a trained purchasing machine. According to the U.S. Consumers Union each child in America is exposed to 30,000 commercials a year. That's a lot of brainwashing power and a lot of cash flow generated by these little future consumers. A good example of the buying power of children's influence is that Gateway and Nickelodeon have made a deal to produce "Rugrats and Blue's Clues computers that will be intended