Effects of Advertising on Children

The impact of advertising on children, either directly or indirectly continues to arouse a considerable amount of controversy all over the world. One of the most emotionally charged allegation against advertising is that it is harmful to children who are regarded as immature and totally gullible.

On the other hand, advertisers argue that the primary goal of advertising is to inform child audiences that will widen their range of choice in particular market rather than ending up with purchasing unwanted products. Moreover, today’s children have grown up with television and internet and they have learned to cope with these equipment. The anxiety is on the part of parents/grandparents/teachers/religious leaders for whom television or Internet are relatively new media.

The arguments against advertising to children usually claim that advertisement creates artificial demands from children which parents are reluctant to gratify. This will create additional family tensions. The specific arguments against ad are the following:

·         Television commercial suggests to children that without the product, they are inferior

·         Children between 4 -7 years cannot tell fact from fantasy from an advertisement

·         Advertisement make children nag their parents and this creates artificial demands

·         Advertisements encourages children to buy things which are too costly for the parents

·         Children in advertisements sometimes set a bad example

·         Junk foods, such as pizzas, burgers and soft drinks, are heavily promoted during children’s TV viewing time. This develops a craving for fatty, sugary and fast foods in kids, thereby affecting their health adversely.

·         Many advertisements include dangerous stunts, which can be performed only by experts

·         Even though the commercials broadcast the statutory warnings with the ad, the kids often try to imitate the stunts at home, with fatal results