If you have been on the internet or anywhere else regarding radios, TVs, and other

electronic devices while you have browsed them you may have found advertisements on them. They
are as long as five minutes to just five minutes and they come in different types like a billboard,
video, or picture. The main goal of advertising is to get you to buy the product or service. Not such a
bad idea but when you include the fact that unhealthy products are advertised they can hurt a lot of
people, especially children are the most vulnerable. Children see more advertisements and they can
easily trick kids into buying bad or unhealthy products such as alcohol, unhealthy foods, etc. The
trend also gets bad when you also include other forms of ads like sponsoring an influencer that
cultivates many children. Not all ads are necessarily bad, some and inform people, others introduce
a new product/service, and others can just be helpful.The question is how influential are
advertisements to children.
Advertisements have been around for a long time now and today we have many ways to
send ads like collecting personal information and selling them or sending the appropriate ad to a
radio station, TV channel, etc. But it wasn’t always like that until recently cigarettes could be
advertised and many children watched as the very influential ads played. Even now alcohol is
allowed to still advertise. Although that may sound bad but what's even worse in unhealthy lifestyles
are even advertised such as unhealthy food and can make children obese. But now people realize
the effect of advertisements and people know the persuasive power of ads on kids and especially
since they're so impressionable. Stated before that while not all ads are necessarily bad the
consensus is that ads aren't helpful for children.
The first question is do the advertisements work? That question is answered in all of these
articles. With an annual estimate to be in the 12 billions, it makes you wonder if it works and the
answer is absolutely. Almost all the articles include addressing the effectiveness of advertisements
on children product preference and that it has shown to be established after one ad and it
strengthens after consistent viewing and as a result will affect the child’s request. That request of
product has shown to affect the parents purchasing habits and thus the advertisement does work.
That seems to be the common theme is for ads to be played over and over to drill their name
recognition in the child’s head which isn’t hard to do (American Psychological Association). Although
research has shown that parents do get what their children request sometimes they do not, and
research also shows that this can (and commonly) cause some conflict between the parent and
child.
That's not all advertisements can do. All the other articles include that child obesity is
correlated to ad portraying snacks, fast food, and candy in a good light. If that wasn't bad enough
according to the Pediatrics Publications 20% of all commercials for junk food include a toy and they
said, “In 1 study, the amount of TV viewed per week correlated with requests for specific foods and
with caloric intake.” which means that advertisements has more power over children than people
think. Children have no choice but to give into these advertisements and eat what they see on the
ad. The influence doesn’t stop there with an annual spending on 2 or more billion dollars on food ads
children also see less than 3% of healthy foods and/or diets.( Pediatrics Publications) and according
to Adler, Richard P.; And Others by the Research on the Effects of Television Advertising on
Children; A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research. By the National
Science Foundation, Washington, L.C. RANN Program. They claim that food advertisements don't
include what a balanced diet should be but that their food is the balanced diet and children don’t
understand that and just assume because they see it it must be good for them.
Although the effects of advertising are well established as persuasive the type of ads that are
shown are equally important such as tobacco, alcohol, an/or drugs. These industries spend billions
to keep people to quit and introduce new people to start and unfortunately children sometimes view
these advertisements and associate good things with them. According to the American psychological
Association, “A variety of studies have found a substantial relationship between children's viewing of
tobacco and alcohol ads and positive attitudes toward consumption of such products. Children find
many such commercials attractive …(and) have high brand awareness of such products and positive
attitudes toward them. “ These positive attitudes toward harmful lifestyle choices are not only bad for
the child but for everyone. This can make children form lifelong changes or decisions that could alter
their lives such as addiction and the negative effects of these negative lifestyle choices like cancer or
many of the negative side effects that drug, tobacco, and alcohol have.
The influence also reaches into school with numerous schools endorsing many products and
since school is where children spend most of their childhood it's shocking to see that according to all
the sources. In Pediatric Publications, “Ads are now appearing on school buses, in gymnasiums, on
book covers, and even in bathroom stalls.More than 200 school districts nationwide have signed
exclusive contracts with soft drink companies...schools risk losing federal subsidies for their free
breakfast and lunch programs if they serve soda in their cafeterias.” Advertising is found in a school
setting and they risk losing the federal subsidies over them, which is interesting because if schools
are willing to lose them over advertising it tells you how powerful ads are and it also affects children
because they see it everyday.
Most people say that advertising doesn’t affect children at all but one the research proves
otherwise and two children are very impressionable they look at something or see something the
almost instinctively copy it or want it so if an advertisement has flashy lights or telling you a “fact”
about why you should get the product then kids will want to buy it. According to Kristen Herhold
Senior Content Developer & Marketer, Clutch, advertisements influence 90% of consumers to make
a purchase. So advertising is pretty influential and that was on adults it's most likely high for children.

“Advertising and Children.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological

Association, www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/advertising-children#:~:text=Considerable%20research
%20has%20examined%20advertising's,increases%20consumption%20of%20these%20products.
Anyan, Sarah, et al. “How Consumers View Advertising: 2017 Survey.” How Consumers
View Advertising: 2017 Survey | Clutch.co, clutch.co/agencies/resources/how-consumers-view-
advertising-survey-2017#:~:text=Advertisements%20influence%2090%25%20of%20consumers,on
%20social%20media%20(42%25).
Communications, Committee on. “Children, Adolescents, and Advertising.” American
Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 Dec. 2006,
pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/118/6/2563.
H, Dixon. “The Effects of Television Advertisements for Junk Food versus Nutritious Food on
Children's Food Attitudes and Preferences.” Ebscohost, 2007,
web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=5d550540-367c-4b42-8276-
12338fd08495%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=26427026&db=a9h.
P., Adler, Richard. “Research on the Effects of Television Advertising on Children; A Review
of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research.” Research on the Effects of Television
Advertising on Children, National Science Foundation, Washington, L.C. RANN Program.,
files.eric.ed.gov.