Preview

Communications Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
748 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Communications Essay
Communications Essay

The average American children and teenagers today are very easy targets of the commercial business. What do teenagers and kids love the most about television? Most parents believe television shows keep children tuned in for hours at a time. The Children s Television Resource And Education Center (#1) found among that 28 million children commercials are really, what keep them watching.
The commercial business is what keeps most products on the market. Catchy songs, flashing colors and scenes related to having fun traps kids into commercials. In one single year, a child or teen will watch 20,000 commercials according to James Bryant from Media, Children and the Family (#2). It comes from the most popular TV stations such as Nickelodeon , MTV or CBS . In a single hour of television, approximately 18 thirty-second commercials are shown. Today 80% percent of the commercials directed at teens and children are for toys, cereals, and fast-food restaurants. Kids believe the nutritional or technical claims of the commercial and the product becomes a necessity to them not just a want. Parents cannot explain to them why this product is not a necessity and has no real value. The message that parents believe that should be spread is Children should not measured by what they own, but by who they are. (US West Parents Foundation # 3)
Children are especially vulnerable to TV ads for toys, "junk food," or cereals with high sugar content. Because of this, children networks such as Cartoon Network , or
Nickelodeon , have agreed to limit certain advertising to children. Industry-financed groups such as the Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (# 4) have developed guidelines on advertising to children. Congress recently passed legislation designed to reduce the number of minutes of advertising time during children's programming. This legislation also stops certain exploitative or uncalled for promotions of superhero

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Studies show that children retain advertising for many different reasons. “The Journal of the American Medical Association Showed that almost all six year olds could identify Joe the Camel from the cigarette commercials on TV.(Little Brown Reader,480)” Could it be that catchy characters like Joe the Camel or The Marlboro Man stick in the minds of young children? Marketers are now using a “ Cradle to Grave. (Little Brown reader,480)” method of advertising witch teaches children at a young age to be brand loyal for a very long time. Children are used to push or nudge their parents into purchasing a certain product or brand name.…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This article states that advertisement are aimed at children because they watch a lot of TV.…

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    One Fat Target Summary

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In “One fat target: how much longer can TV gorge itself on children’s advertising” the author explains and gives thorough detail of how advertising is hurting people including a large percentage being children. Billions of dollars were spent on food ads that were high in calorie and fats in just one year. These advertisers claim that they have been promoting healthier products but nothing has proven that so far.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    I have first-hand experience with advertising impacting my views and opinions. Jean Kilbourne, in Killing Us Softly IV, speaks about the influence that advertising has over people. According to Kilbourne, everyone feels equally unaffected by advertisements, when in reality, their effect is quick, cumulative, and subconscious (Killing Us Softly IV). This illustrates that advertisements sell more than just a tangible product: they sell ideas that we do not even realize we are absorbing. This understanding makes me think to how advertising affects children. When I was a child, I used to watch commercials with awe, falling into their trap of…

    • 2294 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Consuming Kids (Summary)

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This survey was born out of concern that there are few statistics on the effects of marketing industry 's impact on our youth. Just as the article on "Consuming Kids" raises awareness about children being lured into believing they can 't live without things and the problems rising out of it. This survey makes us aware of how this market is willing to sacrifice the sanctity of family life by undermining the parents via their television while children watch mega hours of uninterrupted commercials aimed at them. These surveys were compared with a couple of sparsely completed other ones. The respondents felt that problems such as: aggressiveness, materialism, obesity, lack of creativity, overly sexualized behavior and self-esteem, were detrimentally influenced by the youth marketing industry.…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    References: Atkin, C., & Heald, G. (1977). The content of children’s toy and food commercials. Journal of Communication, 27, 107-114…

    • 2821 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    These fast food companies use different types of tactics including toys, other kids, music and cartoons to manipulate and influence the children’s decision and even thoughts. Mc Donald’s an infamous top fast food seller had roughly ninety-nine ads through 2009 and 2010, and about out of that percentage two-thirds of all ads were aimed for children. Television in this generation is easy accessible, you can watch using internet, basic cable and even going out with your friends. Children especially have a greater chance, they are more likely to watch…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever been in an isle of a store and heard, but mom I really want this I saw it on television? This is a product of advertising. Since the late 1980’s children have emerged as a key demographic to marketers. Advertisements selling everything from the latest video game to the newest automobile are now targeted to the youth of our world. Children have buying power that sways their parents’ purchases, and they are the future consumer.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do advertisements really influence America’s youth? According to many pediatricians, “Research has shown that young children – younger than 8 years old – are cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising” (“Children, Adolescents, and Advertising,” 2006). Children see advertisements of different things almost everywhere they go. Two types of advertisements that kids may come in contact with on a daily basis are fast food advertisements and advertisements that encourage them to look or behave a certain way. In today’s society, with the help of TV commercials, magazine ads, and the internet, children are constantly in the world of advertisements (“Children, Adolescents, and Advertising,” 2006). This is an issue that needs to…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To illustrate, the American Academy of Pediatrics discourages the use of media from children under the age of two and recommends limiting older children's screen time to no more than one or two hours a day. Therefore, the decrease of screen time allows for the opportunity of activities or creative play. If not taken with precaution, more screen time can lead to children overeating and possibly develop an appetite for junk food promoted in TV ads. Since children are more vulnerable than adults, TV commercials try to focus their advertising towards young innocent children. Although less screen time would be beneficial to help end childhood obesity, many people enjoy the pleasures of watching…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gantz, Walter (2007). Food for Thought: Television Advertising to Children in the United States. A Kaiser Family Foundation Report. March 2007. http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/7618.pdf…

    • 2665 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Children have been an extremely common advertising target since the 1990s. Since children are easily persuaded and have vivid imaginations, it is easy for an advertiser to portray their product as the must-have toy for any child. Many concerned parents realized this, which lead to the formation of the CARU (Children’s Advertising Review Unit). The guidelines and principles outlined in the article talk about every aspect of marketing, from disclosure and disclaimers, safety, and newly added, the internet. They even go into description of how you can advertise clubs and sweepstakes. I think the CARU honestly has the best interests of children, however there is no way of protecting children from any adult advertising if they happen to be watching a program or a channel not usually watched by others their age. For example, if you are a ten year old child that is taking a sick day from school, the programs offered on channels like Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel in the early morning are usually targeted for a pre-school aged demographic. While a ten-year old would have more knowledge of advertising and understand they would have to ask their parents before calling to purchase something, they would be watching advertisements with products and services meant for adults. All technicalities aside, the CARU has created an extensive list of guidelines advertisers must follow when dealing with children.…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Self Esteem and the Media

    • 2027 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Children and teens suffer in today's world from obesity, low self-esteem, and anorexia, to name a few. Most wonder if television or celebrities add to these disorders. On an average year children watch 10,000 fast food ads on television (Teen Health and the Media). This type of advertising effects children more than adults. Adults can distinguish the difference in truly wanting something or wanting the item due to seeing the ad. Studies presented that 14% of children are severely overweight (Teen Health and the Media).…

    • 2027 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Those parents who know about the adverse effects of fast food consumption try their best to keep their children away from it. But no matter how hard they try to shield their children, some negative forces like advertising provides them a complete exposure to such unhealthy food. A kid may never have eaten a McDonald’s hamburger, but he/she definitely knows what it looks like, thanks to the power of commercials. “A study of almost 100,000 food ads on TV showed that 89% of ads that teenagers see are promoting products high in fat, sugar, and/or sodium” (Taylor, Daniel). The advertisers are very smart and they never tell the complete story of products they advertise. They make the food look so tempting that it becomes irresistible for everyone especially kids. They best know the techniques to reach out the targeted consumers. Most of the TV advertisements show super-sized…

    • 1775 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Children have become much more interested in cartoons over many years and it has become a primary action to some lives. Typically, children begin watching cartoons on television at an early age of six months, and by the age two or three children become enthusiastic viewers. This has become a problem because too many children are watching too much television and the shows that they are watching (even if they are cartoons) have become violent and addictive. The marketing of cartoons has become overpowering in the United States and so has the subliminal messaging. The marketing is targeted toward the children to cause them to want to view the cartoons on a regular basis,…

    • 1602 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays