Controversial Television Advertising

Jennifer Barnhart
Kirk Miller
Comm 110
April 6th, 2006
The dangers of controversial television advertising
"I do not care if I show your child something that you would not want them to see". This seems to be what some television advertising agencies are saying to us these days. We live in a society that seems to be progressing at a rate so fast that some parents wish technology would slow down. Television is a main source of entertainment for children and adults in this day and age. With so many people viewing, advertisers are trying to capitalize on every target they can. What some parents work so hard to shield their children from; seem to be thrown in our faces by ruthless television advertisers during every commercial. Controversial
television advertising affects our needs, wishes, moral standards and values.
As consumers, we are not asked what suitable viewing material for ourselves and our children is. The advertising that is on television is monitored by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC has been in effect since 1927 to try and protect children against indecent material. Although any help is better than no help, the FCC only monitors sexual content and swear words. There is still a vast array of advertising and programming that includes violence and attacks on our religious and moral values that is not regulated.
While technology seems to be working against us in some cases, there is also new technology geared towards helping family's filter material that is unwanted in their homes.
Satellite and cable televisions now come with the capability to screen out certain channels. Every new television set sold in America since 2000 is equipped with a "V-chip", a blocking device that Bill Clinton forced on the media industry in 1996. (The Economist, December 16th, 2004). Since the FCC does not regulate any offensive material other than sexual behavior and cursing, the V-chip is the only way to block inappropriate material from coming into ones
home.
Children are at a formative time in their lives when their minds are very impressionable. What children see on television is seen to them as what is normal in the world going on around them. Younger children do not have the capability to understand some underlying meanings in programs and advertisements that use adult humor and violence. They do however comprehend images and actions-but not the consequences and dangers that can arise from the controversial images that they have seen. Since violence is not regulated by the FCC, there is some question as to weather some of the violent acts children are committing in schools in recent years has stemmed from ideas that have possibly been implanted from unfiltered television advertising. The entertainment marketing industry has been widely criticized for encouraging children to indulge in dangerous or violent behavior. Since the widely publicized 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado, there has been much debate over the content of television programs, commercials, games, music, and movies being marketed towards children. Many feel that the violent images and actions encourage children and give them the ideas to perform these heinous acts in reality.
Thinking back to times where television and advertising was not as prevalent as is today; children seemed to be children so much longer. How often have we heard somebody say, "They just don't make kids like they used to"? I think most would agree that children in today's society appear to be getting older, faster. If one pays close attention to marketing trends over the past several years, it is certain that marketing advertisers are marketing to children and to parents for their children at ages earlier than ever imagined. Children are targeted as soon as they are babies. We are seeing things from videos for babies to teach them classical music, to computer software for preschoolers to teach them Spanish. The market sales of licensed products for infants increased 32% to a record 2.5 billion dollars in 1996(National Institute on Media and the Family, July, 2002) and in 1997, 1.3 billion was spent on television advertising directed at children. With these numbers growing year after year, it is no wonder that children today do not seem like children for long. While technological and educational advancement is essential, many feel that there is sometimes too much of a good thing. American society today places too much emphasis on what a perfect body should look like. We seem to say to our children, "it doesn't matter what a person looks like on the outside, it's what's on the inside that counts", or "don't judge a book by its cover". Everyone has heard these anecdotes many times before, but as we see every day in commercials and children's television programs, these words seem to bear little to no meaning to children who are constantly comparing themselves to these images in the most formative times of their lives. With the increasingly thinner ideal, young girl's dissatisfaction with their body image and eating disorders in children has increased considerably. According to a Journal from the Canadian Pediatric Society, 44% of adolescent girls believed they were overweight and 60% were actively trying to lose weight even though the majority of these young girls were within normal weight ranges. (Canadian Pediatric Society, June 2003, Volume 8, Number 5). Many researchers have put the blame on media for playing such a major role in creating the phenomenon of body dissatisfaction, thus making them partially responsible for the increase in anorexia and bulimia in adolescent females..
The amount of time children spend watching television has also skyrocketed over recent years.
With children watching so much television, the amount of advertising they are being exposed to is unbelievable. Studies have shown that the average American child may view as many as 40,000 television commercials in a year's time. (National Institute on Media and the Family. July, 2002). Not only is advertising contributing to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, but obesity in children is also linked to advertising. Most common products marketed to children are sugared cereals, candies, sweets, sodas and snack foods. Such advertising of unhealthy food products to young children contributes to poor nutritional habits that may last a lifetime and be a variable in the current epidemic of obesity among kids. Studies show that the average American child watches approximately 3 hours of television a day. With children watching so much television, their physical activity has also declined over the years. Experts are saying that due to technology advances, many adults today are living into their 100's. They are also saying that this will not likely be the trend in the future due to amount of children that are expected to contract heart disease in adulthood due to obesity. More steps need to be taken to educate parents on how to make sure that their children do not fall into this category. Nutritionist and health care providers are recommending that parents monitor the amount of
time children are allowed to watch television, and encourage activities that incorporate exercise. Limiting the amount of time children watch television not only makes them more active, but it also helps to control the amount of advertisements that they view.
Controversial television advertising has created a whole new dimension to the every day problems and concerns that parents have for their children. Many parents feel that they have not asked for their children to be made aware of the evils of advertising. They fear that their children might be at risk for violence, eating disorders, and increased lack of morals, due to the pressure to be like certain advertised images. Controversial television advertising is making parents aware of its effects everyday with the ever increasing decline of moral and well-being of the children of our society.