Matthew McIntosh

English Comp. 1201

Prof. Garrett

4/7/2021

How ads affect children

Advertisement has been found to be in human life for quite some time now,

archaeologists have found evidence of advertisement as far back as the Romans and

even in Pompeii. Even a couple of hundred years ago ads weren’t that common and it

was more for local businesses to get more attention. However in more recent years as

anyone knows ads have become increasingly more popular. Ads are everywhere and

even are in places specifically meant for children. Little less than a hundred years ago

advertising on children was taboo and even shunned upon. Now ads have reached in

everyday life for children and the question is, how influential is advertising on children
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and how does it affect children as well. Based on the research, advertisements based

for children should be heavily regulated based on children don't understand the purpose

of the ads, that ads affect children's habits, and desires by persuading them to purchase

the products.

As mentioned before advertisements have been around for a long time

and with the advent of the internet ads have found a new avenue to reach

children. It got to a point where the census was that there needed to be intervention and

so the government passed laws and legislation to protect the vulnerable children. April

of 2000 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") due to all the information

that was being collected on children for ads. Even with all the laws and regulations

children just either say they are older than 13 or use parents' accounts and then ads

have access to collect information because in order to make accounts on any social

media you need to be 13 or older thus children get targeted. Then the ads can go for

them even though they are under 13 they said no and that is a loophole in the law. Kids

do this all the time and it's really unfortunate that they even do that.

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 billion, it makes you wonder

if it works and the answer is absolutely. Almost all the articles include addressing the

effectiveness of advertisements on children's product preference and that it has been

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 for product has shown to affect the

parents purchasing habits and thus the advertisement does work. If the ads are

repeatedly played over and over, which most ads are, then it's really common sense
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that it will retain in their head especially if the ad is catchy or flashy. Some ads can be

remembered even after they stop airing them for years. 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. Most parents do give in to their child's request and will accommodate

their children to get the child what they want to either make them happy or to avoid any

conflict and advertisement to take advantage of that.

That's not all advertisements can do. All the other articles include that child

obesity is correlated to advertisements 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 have more power over children than people think.

Kids don't understand that the ads are trying to get the kids to purchase the item and

even worse ads will give them false truths and say their product is a better alternative to

their competition. Children have no choice but to give in to these advertisements and

eat what they see in the ad. The influence doesn’t stop there with 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

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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.

Even besides ignoring socioeconomic factors, kids love sweet treats and will

seek them out. according to why “advertising is bad for children'' “What characterizes

the abusiveness of advertising aimed at children is mainly the fact that it takes

advantage of the naiveté of children in order to sell products and services” which is say

children don’t understand what the goal of the advertisement is and will simply aim for

the child because they believe that what the advertisement promised and think the

advertisement is the fact. Not differentiating the facts from fallacy. It's hard not to see

why in the article Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents

in the US by Mary Story,” Total expenditure for confectionery and snacks was $1 billion.

In contrast, during the same year, the US Department of Agriculture spent $333 million

on nutrition education, evaluation, and demonstrations.” This is really an eye-opener,

more money is invested in junk food rather than nutritional education makes it hard for

kids to understand what's healthy when these advertisements are constantly playing

versus healthy food. Because innately copy or do what they see ads that only show

unhealthy foods they will believe it's 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, and/or drugs. These

industries spend billions to keep people from quitting and introduce new people to start

and unfortunately, children sometimes view these advertisements and associate good
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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 drugs, tobacco, and alcohol have. Besides the health risk, they can

develop many other problems like influencing other people to these toxic substances,

parent-child conflict, and trouble in school.

Ads have proven to make kids drink more, according to Leslie B. Snyder,

Ph.D. the author of Effects of Alcohol Advertising Exposure on Drinking Among Youth,

“youth who saw more alcohol advertisements on average drank more...advertisement

seen increased the number of drinks consumed by 1%...Youth in markets with greater

alcohol advertising expenditures drank more... raised the number of drinks consumed

by 3%” The author did a study for 5 years and found that and they even concluded that

ad increase alcohol use. They affect the child's habits and granted that there is alcohol

abuse and other factors however there was a correlation between ads and alcohol use.

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

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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 every day. Furthering the name

recognition with advertisements on children is something people don't even think about.

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 they 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.

Most people simply say supervise the children but the problem is that ad work in

maybe ominous and subliminal ways sneaking in ways to trick the parent and most

importantly the child into believing that ads are innocent and hype the child up to think it

great by making the ads look fun or entertaining. Others might say the parent can

simply not purchase the product or ignore the child but that will only make the kid either

angry or even more persistent to acquire the product and cause so much trouble the

parent gives in. Especially since most household children have a TV in the room with no

supervision the ads are even easier to manipulate the children.

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It is also true that the ads aren’t the only key factors in kids continuing or starting

to smoke or drink. The key player is statistically peer pressure however there is

evidence that ads do not aid them either. They also do have an influence on the

consumption of those illicit substances. Interestingly enough when there was a

decrease in advertising for those illicit substances they saw a dramatic decrease in

consumption or the consumption would level off. It also doesn't help seeing an addictive

substance on the tv when people are trying to quit, it might set off the cravings and

make the whole process of quitting that much harder.

Even if parents tried to keep their children from consuming too much snack,

advertisements are just too convincing. Sugar is very addictive and as a result easy to

market to children. Most products lie about being healthier and even in most cases are

more unhealthy than the alternatives. The advertisements could affect their habit,

according to Melissa Dittmann by American Psychological Association, “...studies

suggest that eating habits formed during childhood can persist throughout life,”

Which as it implies refers to how the children's habit can be lifelong habits that

carry on to adulthood and affect their children and get them hooked for life.

Social media influencers can also convince children to purchase items

because children either trust or want to be like them. This can lead to many other

unnecessary purchases. Such as clothes, technological devices, and many more. The

influencer can make children want to purchase subscriptions and make the parent pay

expensive things monthly. (Why advertising is bad for children) and if children don't get

their way they will be angry. Influencers can easily be bought out and make the child
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trust the product more and don't understand that ads are trying them to start the

product.

Ads can also give expectations for children. For example kids will see models or

something similar and will start to believe that’s how people should look. According to

Barve G by Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism “Female and male

adolescent tend to compare themselves with models in television advertisements more

frequently at this age and as a result both the gender feel insecure and lack of

confidence in themselves.” and kids already don’t have much self confidence as it is

how much harder it is for the children to deal with that fact. They can also give a sense

of sexist gender roles. According to Barve G by Journal of Mass Communication &

Journalism, “The researchers discuss this further explaining that the television

advertisements impact both the gender equally... Females want to be like attractive

spokespersons she watches on Television... Young male put more stress on becoming

muscular like one of those male models in the Ad '' this makes kids have more pressure

into looking the best they can be and which isn't inherently bad. However when those

expectations are outlandish and unrealistic they can add unnecessary stress.

Furthermore, advertisements based on children should be heavily regulated

based on children don't understanding the purpose of the ads, that ads affect children's

habits, and desires by persuading them to purchase the products. Due to the sheer

amount of convincing the ads are making children believe that advertisements are

trustworthy and make them appealing. The advertisements can affect children in many

negative ways and lead to an expensive life due to the name brand product being

innately more expensive than any other product. Kids are simply too naive to grasp that
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the advertisements are trying to get them to consume the product and make them beg

their parents to buy unnecessary products or get them to start bad habits and once they

are hooked it's hard to deter them from buying another product or to quit.

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Work Cited

“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).
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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.

G, Barve. Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism.

www.hilarispublisher.com/open-access/effects-of-advertising-on-youth-age-group-of-

1319-years-age-2165-7912-1000260.pdf.

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.

Novotney, A. (2019, December). Better ways to combat anxiety in youth. Monitor

on Psychology, 50(11). http://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/12/combat-anxiety

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.

Snyder, Leslie B., et al. "Effects of alcohol advertising exposure on drinking

among youth." Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine 160.1 (2006): 18-24.

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