Advertisers are targeting youth, “Own This Child” Written by Jean Kilbourne an informative article on this matter. Major corporations have recently begun using gaming [web] sites to create an image and “brand loyalty” early on in today’s youth as young as four years of age. Although The United States is an industrialized nation it is one of the few that entire campaigns are designed to target children. These same corporations are working with major television networks advertising products that pertain to program that is being viewed; with the intent to get them as a present consumer but also well into the future. In addition to television ads one company has initiated a program for advertisers to distribute coupons and promotional materials to a network with more than two thousand day care centers and about two million preschool kids. Companies are even going as far advertising in our schools ads are emblazoned on school buses, yearbooks and even scoreboards. Each day eight million students are successfully reached by advertisers. As schools become increasingly cash-strapped and underfunded, the more the schools except funding from corporations eager for a captive audience in exchange for their financial support. Educational programs have increased by 25% from 1965 to present putting more pressure on the schools to accept the funds from the more than willing companies and causing advertisement to become so over the top that when an spoof program offering students money to get tattoos of company logos many people believed it was an actual program. Big consequences are the result for any student doing anything to jeopardize funding from corporate sponsored events; such as wearing a competitor's logo to company sponsored rally. Schools are going to the extremes of signing long-term contracts in exchange for millions of dollars and exclusive rights to place vending machine where students all-day can access them. Companies even push the school to increase sales even…
In his report, “Kid Kustomers,” Eric Schlosser discovers the tactics marketers and manufacturers utilize to target children. Schlosser claims that since the 1980s when working parents spent less and less time with their kids, they felt it necessity to spend more money on them. Manufacturers took advantage and began to promote a kid-related appearance. They started by observing children of specific ages to discover their interests and habits, receiving much of their information from the Internet and kids’ clubs. This provided the marketers insights on how to improve their business plan to attract more children and create “cradle-to-grave” customers. Their strategies often resulted in clever mascots…
“Kid Kustomers” is about the businesses using their advertisements to target children from as early as age 2 (Pg.520). It all began in the 1980’s because parents began to feel guilty for not being able to spend as much time with their children since they work (Pg.519). Businesses took…
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…
Do you remember waking up early on a Saturday morning to sit and watch your favorite cartoons? I remember watching all the commercials for toys and begging my mom to go to the store right then and buy that certain something. There is one commercial that sticks out in my mind above all the rest. For a long time it gave me nightmares; having to witness an injustice like that. It was a constant reminder of how unfair this world can be. I can still hear them taunting him... “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.” How come they couldn’t just give him some cereal? Why are Trix only for kids? And why were those kids so mean to that poor silly rabbit? These are questions that were left unanswered in my young child mind. The Trix cereal commercial is unjust because it teaches us that no matter how hard you work for something, your dreams will always be ripped away from you by the hands of an unfair society. Today I will demonstrate how the Trix commercial teaches kids about animal cruelty, how to be a bully and portrays a false American dream.…
Central Idea: Marketers love teens because they easily spend money on “luxury” items such as clothing, electronics, and music. They mostly make their purchase decisions independently, have significant influence on family purchases, and companies know that once they have “branded” a child, they are likely to be customers for life. They reach kids by advertising in magazines, movies, TV shows, and on the internet. Companies get info about kids spending habits from internet “quizzes” and “surveys”. Marketers know how to capitalize on important teen issues and anxieties, like body image, peer acceptance, coolness, and need for power.…
Television is the most important medium for children’s advertisements. The effects of TV have long been a subject of controversy. In the essay, “Kid Kustomers,” Eric Schlosser describes how major ad agencies now have children’s divisions that focus directly on marketing to kids. The newest Lucky Charms cereal television commercial, “Lost In Time,” utilizes cartoon characters, an adventurous plot, and whimsical cereal shapes which work in conjunction not only to captivate the attention of their young audience, but also to infuse the Lucky Charms brand into children’s subconscious by using attractive symbols which can result in loyal customers.…
In ‘‘Youth in a Suspect Society,’’ Giroux mentions how within America, children are being overwhelmed by commercials, while having commercials thrown at them on a daily base, youths are contributing to advertisements effort in persuading them to buy because youths spend more time with these technologies that delivers them nonstop ads (46). Also in ‘‘Transitions of Youth Citizen in Europe: Culture, Subculture and Identity,’’ by Andy Furlong, who works at the University of Glasgow as a Professor of Sociology in the School of Business and Management and Irena Guidikova, whose the Head of the Division at the Council of Europe, where this book was published. They mentioned in addition to Giroux comment, how all media are providing young people with an ongoing source of new material for creating media symbols (85). The term ‘‘media symbols’’ could be interpreted as the desires advertisements feeds their consumers, known as the social acceptance in a youth’s identity. It’s an go-to tactic because the media outlet is mostly preferred by young people, having a secure and stable position in an adolescent’s life, advertisements end up offering a ‘‘special kind of knowledge’’ (Furlong and Guidikova 85). This ‘‘special kind of knowledge’’ is associated with the nonstop ad providing direct and indirect messages to youth. It surprising to realize the…
Advertising has greater impact to children than usual because it is easily perceived as a lesser influence by parents and others in the older generation (Shah, 2010).…
The manipulation of advertisements molds the child’s mores at an early age. The toys accommodates the child with the notion that comfort and security comes from having the products. Mcdonalds advertisements focus more on the toys, than the food items itself. For instance one of the commercials played on national television,…
Political cartoons serve the purpose of getting specific messages across to our society. Getting messages across to the society about politicians and certain things in parliament is vital in our society because we need to understand the problems and situations going on not only in our county but also the world around us. Political cartoons are mainly found in newspapers, magazines and even electronic devices.…
There are many different types of shows and cartoons that we watch in our daily lives. Fighting in Cartoons causes some kids to have a violent nature. As kids, we absorb information much earlier, that’s why as kids we put things in our mouths to experiment. Fighting in cartoons causes violent in our kids an example of these cartoons is Pokémon. From the cartoons, we begin to idolize the character and want to become more like them an example of a cartoon is SpongeBob because SpongeBob has been running for years and there’s bound to be some kids that idolize and want to be more like SpongeBob. In the end, we need to find role models in cartoons that kids can look up to so they don’t become Violent. What type of role model is the best type of role model?…
chain. As Jean Kilbourne said in “Can’t buy my love” that 18-34 year olds generate huge…
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…
Although most of these ads are not aimed directly at small children and pre-teens, they are viewed by them and the effect it is having on them is devastating. Children are developing several different emotional, psychological and physical issues. These issues include but are not limited to: inability to relate to peers, eating disorders, depression and even promiscuity. In her article “Sex images in media harming kids ' mental health” Janelle Miles, a long time journalist for the Australian news publication “The Courier-Mail” writes: “Australian and New Zealand College of…