Advertisement and Children

Mitchell 1 We see advertisements all over the place. Either they are on television, magazines or the radio. Roughly there is no way you can escape these images. The ads have their target audience, who advertisers specifically design it for. Advertising is a means of attracting peoples attention to force them to buy the product. In Dan Cook's article, "Lunchbox Hegemony," he explains how advertisement has been using up children's daily existence through these brand named messages. We tend to see advertisements everyday of our lives, but how do you young kids get that same attention? Children have to hassle their parents into buying things for them to be satisfied. Kids have what we call self-expression to create their own meanings of cartoons, toys, or games. Having read "Lunchbox Hegemony," I think that advertisement has become such an everyday thing to us that we see all these images and messages everywhere we go.

At the age of two or three, young kids are already demanding so much out of their parents to satisfy their needs. Most parents are useless when giving into their kids. Kids nag their parents into buying something that will make them satisfied. By spoiling your kid it makes it easier for them to get their hands on products because they are taught to behave in that manner. Cook mentions that parents are stuck between giving what their children want or risking their child becoming an outsider in society, we ask the question if parents are doing the right thing. "If it's within kids' reach, they will touch it and if they touch it, there's at least a chance that Mom or Dad will relent and buy it."( Cook 202) Advertisement is not only viewed to teenagers and adults but to kids as well. I think that television plays an important role in advertisement towards young kids being Mitchell 2 exposed to these images and messages. Kids spend half their day watching commercials rather than their favorite show. That is why advertisement has been