Ethics of Marketing to Children
During the early 1990’s, Americans witnessed a dramatic increase in marketing centered on children. Today, many “latchkey” children are left unattended to watch television on their free time. According to the U.S. Census, one third of American school aged children are left alone at home either before school, after school and at night (2010 Census). These children watch an average of 25,000 to 40,000 commercials a year (Global Issues). Marketing to children should be a concern to advertisers and consumers as these children may not understand the messages in commercials. Children have restricted abilities that make it difficult for them to comprehend the reliability and accuracy of the data they obtain. Knowing this, advertisers should be aware that many children today are imaginative and that companies should not portray their products by using advertising in a way that children would not be able to see the difference between the actual and imaginary features of the products.
The most important stakeholders that are affected by this marketing practice are the parents and their kids. Parents of “latchkey” children have more affluence and they are easier to influence than children. Often parents have the desire to satisfy their children’s wants and needs by the purchase of items. Also, parents make purchase decisions that are influenced by their children or their constant begging for a product they want. The buying power of children has increased exponentially over time. In 2002, U.S. four to twelve year olds have spent over 30 billion dollars on products, making them a key target segment (Future of Children). Stockholders do care about money and their company’s advertisements do work to get children to purchase their products. As a result, shareholders are also a stakeholder. They would not be marketing to children if it were not