THE SNEAKY WORLD OF ADVERTISING: PREYING ON OUR YOUTH

The Sneaky World of Advertising: Preying on our Youth
Liberty University

Abstract
Advertisers spend billions of dollars annually to promote their products. They are constantly researching the best stratagies to make their marketing dollars as effective as possible. The latest strategies advertisers have begun to use include targeting children in various ways. The biggest group they are currently targeting are the grade school age kids. These tactics are not intended to be good for our children. The intention is for companies to make money.

The Sneaky World of Advertising: Preying on our Youth

In the past, marketers have targeted mothers to influence them to make purchases for their children. This trend has changed. With the increasing exposure children have to television, they have become marketer’s main targets. According to Dr. Victor C. Strasburger of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine:
Children and adolescents spend more time watching television than in any other activity except sleeping, and more time from age 2 to 18 in front of the television set (15 000 to 18 000 h) than in the classroom (12 000 h). By the time today's children reach age 70, they will have spent a total of 7 years of their lives watching television.
Dr. Strasburger goes on to say that children will be exposed to over fourteen thousand sexually suggestive images, thousands of images portraying alcohol and violent acts, and nearly twenty thousand commercials (Stratsburger, 1992). Children are being bombarded with these images so frequently they are overwhelmed with the desire to have the things they see and to become the people that are portrayed in these images. Children nowadays spend more and more time watching television and playing video games. In the last few decades, neighborhoods, playgrounds and parks look more like ghost-towns than a place for children to congregate. This trend is alarming and it is important that parents become aware of the amount of television their children are viewing. Advertisers no longer try to influence adults to buy things for their children. They have discovered it is far more effective to advertise to children directly. The group that is the most appealing to these advertisers is the grade school age children that have been nicknamed “tweens’. In her book, Juliet Schor tells us that, “…teens are now the epicenter of American consumer culture.” Marketers are not only gearing advertising toward these kids, but they are influencing them through teen idols like Miley Cyrus and the Jonas brothers. World famous marketing expert Martin Lindstrom explains, “Stars receive boxes and boxes of clothes and may even be paid to wear them. The brand does not really matter to them” (Lindstrom, 2008). When our children see these stars wearing name brand clothes, they want to wear them too, when in reality the only reason the star is wearing them is because they were given to them. Children are being manipulated into believing that certain brands are popular because of who wears them. Research has shown that kids have begun to develop brand preferences as toddlers due to advertising (Lindstrom, 2008). The development stage known as middle childhood is classified as age’s eight to twelve. Dr. Sigmund Freud described this as the latency phase, but it is the time in a child’s life where they begin to “develop interpersonal and social relationships” Berk, 2008). This group is quite attractive to advertisers, not only because they have a strong need to fit in with peers, but they have a broad range of interests. Little girls, for instance, may still want to play with baby dolls but at the same time are interested in experimenting with make-up. I have seen the effects of advertising with my ten year old daughter. She frequently watches the Disney channel, and she feels as though she needs many of the items advertised during her viewing hours. Her reasons for wanting them are because her friends have them, they would make something easier for her, or she has just really wanted it for a long time. What my daughter doesn’t understand, is that these are just tricks advertisers use to get us to buy their products. Billions of dollars are spent annually by these kids. Advertisers know this and they also know that children have a great deal of influence of their parent’s purchases. Parents don’t want their kids to feel left out. They want them to fit in with their peers and to have all of the exciting things that their friends have. There may also be some guilty consciences for working too much and not spending enough time with their children by some adults that leads to unnecessary purchases. When children begin begging and nagging for items, parents are pressured into buying these things for children to pacify them. So it seems that not only children, but adults are being manipulated by devious advertisers.

References

Berk, L. E. (2008). Child Development. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Lindstrom, M. (2008). Buyology: Truth and lies about why we buy. New York: Doubleday publishing group.
Schor, J. B. (2004). Born to Buy: The commercialized child and the new consumer culture. New York: Scribner.
Strasburger, V. (1992). Children, adolesents and television. Pediatrics in Review , 144-151.

Outline: I. Marketers have begun to gear their advertising more and more to the American youth, in particular the group commonly known as tweens. Tweens are the children between the ages of eight and twelve who have strong family ties, and are beginning to develop outside relationships as well. A. Children are exposed to over 18,000 hours of TV by the time they graduate (Stratsburger) B. Kids are bombarded with images during the hours of TV time they encounter. C. Advertisers no longer try to influence adults to buy things for their children. They have discovered it is far more effective to advertise to the children directly. II. According to Allen P. Kanner PhD. Of Berkley University, “Advertising is a massive, multi-million dollar project that’s having an enormous impact on child development.” A. Children want to fit in and advertisers are preying on this B. The child development stage called middle childhood is the ages of 8-12. While Sigmund Freud defined this as the latency stage, these children are just beginning to develop interpersonal and social relationships (Berk, 2008). C. According to Allen P. Kanner PhD. Of Berkley University, “Advertising is a massive, multi-million dollar project that’s having an enormous impact on child development.” (Schor, 2004). III. Advertising, while geared toward children has an influence not only on the children, but also the adults that are responsible for the children