Advertising To Children
Dharmi Dhaduk
AUCS 340: Ethics in Professions
Due: December 10, 2014
Dr. Sherri Bernier
Advertising to Children
Advertising is a big thing in companies. It is a massive, multi-million dollar project that drives the consumers to all the different products available and attracts the consumer by design. They are always around us and affect us in ways we don’t realize it; especially when it comes to children. Some advertisements are targeting children that can be influenced easily, and the children themselves don’t realize it. They are, in a way, manipulating the children, which in turn can be classified as a business ethical issue.
Children between the ages of six and ten have a “crucial shift in their cognitive skills.” At the age of six, they are starting to “actually “reason” in the commonsense meaning of the word.” Because of this, children that are younger than eight years old are “cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising (Children).” Also if a child is below the ages of 4–5 years do not always classify programs from commercial content, even when program/commercial separation devices, like “we will be back after these messages” are used. Along with that, most children younger than 7–8 years of age do not recognize the persuasive intent of commercial appeals. This means that they do not really understand the concept of advertisements and that it’s all just a way for the company to keep having their products on the market and keep the face value up. The marketing and advertising business know this and they use it to their advantage by manipulating children that don’t have the means to make their own decisions yet.
Children view about 40,000 ads per year in just TV. This occurs despite the fact that the Children 's Television Act of 1990 which limits the ads on children 's programming to 10.5 minutes/hour on weekends and 12 minutes/hour on weekdays. However, much of children 's viewing occurs during prime time, which features nearly 16
AUCS 340: Ethics in Professions
Due: December 10, 2014
Dr. Sherri Bernier
Advertising to Children
Advertising is a big thing in companies. It is a massive, multi-million dollar project that drives the consumers to all the different products available and attracts the consumer by design. They are always around us and affect us in ways we don’t realize it; especially when it comes to children. Some advertisements are targeting children that can be influenced easily, and the children themselves don’t realize it. They are, in a way, manipulating the children, which in turn can be classified as a business ethical issue.
Children between the ages of six and ten have a “crucial shift in their cognitive skills.” At the age of six, they are starting to “actually “reason” in the commonsense meaning of the word.” Because of this, children that are younger than eight years old are “cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising (Children).” Also if a child is below the ages of 4–5 years do not always classify programs from commercial content, even when program/commercial separation devices, like “we will be back after these messages” are used. Along with that, most children younger than 7–8 years of age do not recognize the persuasive intent of commercial appeals. This means that they do not really understand the concept of advertisements and that it’s all just a way for the company to keep having their products on the market and keep the face value up. The marketing and advertising business know this and they use it to their advantage by manipulating children that don’t have the means to make their own decisions yet.
Children view about 40,000 ads per year in just TV. This occurs despite the fact that the Children 's Television Act of 1990 which limits the ads on children 's programming to 10.5 minutes/hour on weekends and 12 minutes/hour on weekdays. However, much of children 's viewing occurs during prime time, which features nearly 16
References: Children, Adolescents, and Advertising. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2014, from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/118/6/2563.full#sec-3 Children as Consumers. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2014, from http://www.globalissues.org/article/237/children-as-consumers Eccles, J. (n.d.). The Development of Children Ages 6 to 14. Retrieved December 7, 2014, from http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/public Report of the APA Task Force on Advertising and Children. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2014, from http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/advertising-children.aspx