Argumentative Essay On Advertising To Children

Introduction:

Advertising to children is a controversial issue that has been debated for years. Advertising plays a significant role in business and in society. Alongside with advertising comes ethical and social responsibilities, this is most important when advertising is directed to children of all ages. It is obvious that commercials targeting children have experienced great changes over past years, leading to exceptional levels of advertising reaching young audiences. Advertisers use different tactics to attract children’s attention, resulting in several opinions that vary in response to this particular issue. Two articles present opposite views toward the problem of advertising directed to children. First, Stephanie Clifford argues that

Clifford claims in her article that children lack cognitive skills and abilities compared to adults that are able to distinguish the difference (Clifford, pg. 468, 2010). Advertisers make it more difficult for the children to determine who is involved in making those games, contests and events.

They 're outraged that psychologists and others are revealing such tidbits as why 3- to 7-year-olds gravitate toward toys that transform themselves into something else and why 8- to 12-year-olds love to collect things…. "The information psychologists are giving to advertisers is being used to increase profits rather than help children," says Kanner, who helped collect signatures for the letter. "The whole enterprise of advertising is about

Advertising to Children Page 3 of 6 creating insecure people who believe they need to buy things to be happy. I don 't think most psychologists would believe that 's a good thing. There 's an inherent conflict of interest." (pg. 52,