Children and Advertising

Being a person who regularly watches television, I am aware of the amount of time is taken up by ad breaks. It is also important to mention the amount of time children are watching television along with the range of media that is abundantly accessible today. Ofcom (2012: 3) results found that 5-15 year olds in the UK averaged that out of all regularly used media they would miss television the most if it was taken away. Further results found that concern about content on the television has dropped since 2011 among parents in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Ofcom, 2012: 3). These results, along with the fast moving pace of the digital age, raises concerns about how television is affecting our children, particularly advertisements that parents and adults may not be aware of.

Lüsted (2009) talks about the changes in marketing, from the time parents and adults were targeted consumers to the shift towards the marketing scheme of ‘pester power’. Moreover he suggests that ‘pester power’ has evolved into a situation where children play a large role on the spending that takes place in each household, including: clothes, toys, food and an increasing spend on technology. Present day provides an additional marketing category targeted at today’s ‘savvy consumer culture’, children and teenagers who are growing up overloaded with advertisements (Lüsted, 2009: 28).

Gunter, Oates and Blade (2005) argue that television is the main source of children’s advertising. Subsequently, the growing children’s advertising market along with the increasing access children are having to televisions and additional digital devices, highlights a potential concern; the two jointly functioning to successfully target children. Kapur (1999) argues that the development of children as a market section is due to the capitalism after World War II, which has seen the transformation of children seen as innocents in need of protection to children who are thinking consumers.

Gunter et al (2005) present questions towards the rising worry if children do need protecting from advertisements or not. For example, toy advertisements, which may seem relevantly harmless, can be presented in an unrealistic or inaccurate way as well as exaggerated claims about the properties of the toys (Gunter et al, 2005: 6). Corresponding to Kapoor (2003) who suggests that TV advertisements can bring shifts in children’s beliefs. Allowing children to believe in a false reality, is playing on children’s vulnerability and to most people would be labelled as a scam.

A range of strategies are used during advertisements to entice children to take notice: humour, music, repetition and special effects are to name a few. Kapoor (2003) specifically highlights the use of celebrities, cartoon characters, kids, mothers, doctors, teachers and sport stars in TV advertisements and the unfair advantage towards young viewers, as they can lead children to believe in the endorsed product qualities which may not be accurate. Thus linking to the concerns emphasized by Gunter et al (2005) and children’s vulnerability.

Our role as teachers and implications for my own practice would be to provide children with the awareness of advertising purposes. Giving children an independence to create their own decisions but with practical knowledge and understanding. Keeping in mind that on the other hand audiences have the ability to resist, negotiate or are co-opted by mass culture, bought to light by cultural studies (Kapur, 1999: 122). In addition to the new National Curriculum supporting the study and understanding of writing for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences (DfE, 2013).

DfE (2013) The National Curriculum in England 2014 [online] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/244223/PRIMARY_national_curriculum3.pdf (Accessed 15th February 2014)

Gunter, B. Oates, C. & Blades, M. (2005) Advertising to Children on TV New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Kapoor, N. (2003) Television Advertisements and Consumer Response: Children Buying Behaviour New Delhi: Mittal Publications

Kapur, J. (1999) ‘Television and the Transformation of Childhood in Late Capitalism’ ’ In: Kinder, M. (ed) (1999) Kids’ Media Culture London: Duke University Press

Lüsted, M. (2009) Advertising to Children Minnesota: ABDO Publishing Company

Ofcom (2012) Children and Parents: Media use and attitudes in the nations [online] http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/2012-Metrics-Bulletin/2012-Metrics-Bulletin.pdf (Accessed  15th February 2014)