Advertising to Children: Helpful or Corrupting

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Recommended: the impact of advertising towards children

At an extremely young age many children become the target customers for today’s leading corporations. We live in a society that is flooded with advertisements for all different variations of services and products. When the main point of these ads is to attract children it brings upon the issue of exactly what is being advertised to these children. Although some companies believe that by advertising to children they will secure their brands futures, advertising to children needs to be regulated because children do not understand how to judge if a product is safe or harmful.

Advertising unhealthy food to children is causing a rise in childhood obesity. Children are exposed to over thirty thousand TV commercials in a year. Meredith Melnick announces that a study conducted by public health researchers from Yale University found that, “a whopping 40% of parents reported that their child asked to go to McDonald's at least once a week, and 15% of preschoolers' parents said they fielded such a request every day”. With constant requests for fast food parents eventually grow tired of feuding with their children and give in. Regulations need to be put in place to ensure that fast-food ads are not promoting unhealthy food to children. Not only do these advertisements urge children to visit their restaurants, but they encourage unhealthy eating habits at home. These findings have important implications for the broader domain of childhood obesity.

The time children are spending in front of the television is highly influential when they begin to form their own opinions. When children see the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street eating cookies at the age of two, it automatically gives them the idea that cookies are good. The Cookie Monster is ...

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... and ways these corporations are advertising needs to be strictly regulated. Corporations need to shift their focus to improve their products so that customers will want to establish a relationship with them, at an age where they can fairly judge the product. The corporations that are advertising to children need to revise the message they are relaying and transform their products in to something that is safe and not psychologically harmful.

Works Cited

Levin, Diane. "Advertising Is Harmful to Children". Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2010 Diane E. Levin. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.

Melinick, Meredith. “Study: Fast-Food Ads Target Kids with Unhealthy Food, and It Works.” Time Healthland. 8 Nov. 2010. Time Healthland. Web. Oct. 17 2011.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York: Harper Collins, 2001. Print.

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