The effects of television on people of all ages is a topic of great study in the field of psychology. The experiments that have been done in the last 30-40 years focus on various aspects of the impact of television, from eating behavior, to cognitive effects. They also study various types of television, from the impacts of violent TV to the impacts of television advertising.
In the 6 articles that I examined, the experiments were conducted in a very similar way, using various sample populations. One study focused on preschool age children. These children are taking their first independent steps in life and just beginning to make their own real-world decision. In this study, they took a randomized sample of forty-six 2 to 6 year old children and exposed them to 30-minutes of cartoons, either with or without embedded food commercials. They were then given a choice of snack after viewing, either the food advertised or something else. Results showed that children were significantly more likely to chose the food that had been advertised (Borsekowski, pg. 44). Another study that was conducted nearly 20 years earlier also studied the effects of food advertising on children. This study was conducted at a summer camp in Quebec, and the results proved to be very similar. The experiment conducted was also very similar to the above study. Directly proceeding the children’s snack period, they were shown a 30-minute cartoon with either commercials for healthy or unhealthy food. Then, during their snack period, they were given a choice of either a healthy snack or an unhealthy snack. Although this experiment studied a slighty different aspect of food advertising, the results were once again very similar. Results showed that the children wer...
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...f television advertisements for junk food versus nutritious food on children's food attitudes and preferences. Social science & medicine, 65, (7), pp. 1311-1323.
Obesity has been a common lifestyle in the lives of North Americans for many years. According to the Harvard Public School of Health, “the words overweight or obesity are ways to describe having too much body fat” (Cheung, 2016). Childhood obesity and adult obesity are different due to the growth rate of children. Childhood obesity has been a rising factor in today’s world. Obesity in children puts them at major risk for diseases such as cardiovascular disease and health problems earlier in age and well as mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Junk food or fast food marketing is one of the major reasons why childhood obesity is on the rise.There are many different aspects that have to do with childhood obesity such as genetics,
Commercials make the viewer think about the product being advertised. Because of the amount of television children watch throughout the week, it allows the children to be exposed to the information over and over again. Per year, children are known to view thousands of fast food commercials. On a daily basis, a teen will usually view five advertisements and a child aged six to eleven will see around four advertisements (Burger Battles 4). Businesses use this strategy to “speak directly to children” (Ruskin 3). Although the big businesses in the fast ...
The effect of television on children’s behavior is a topic that has continued to evoke interest in psychologists. In the investigations educators suggest that television has replaced other forms of socialization such as school and family, reason being that children spend more time in watching television as compared to time spent in school.
The rate of childhood obesity “has grown significantly in recent years and many have argued that this is partly the result of unregulated advertising to children” (Maria and Carter). Young children that watch television do not fully comprehend the importance of the subliminal messages companies are employing: cartoons and catchy songs to hook the child into demanding unnecessary products. According to Punyanunt-Carter, studies have demonstrated that “children under the age of eight are not cognitively and psychologically competent enough to discern media messages”. It is not acceptable for corporate moguls to take advantage of children, who cannot comprehend the severity of the situation. Children strive for the instant gratification they are promised from the ads they see on television, which cause children to become restless. This restlessness directly affects parents, as the constant pestering from the children is tiring for an adult and leads them to give in to the child’s temper tantrums and buy the product. This cycle of behavior causes children to see fast food as an award and not be educated on the truth of what they are consuming–both physically and
In the documentary Killer at Large, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona remarked that “Obesity is a terror within. It’s destroying our society from within and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out…” Carmona is indeed right, with the rapid increase of obese children, America is on the fast track to producing a generation with a life expectancy shorter than their peers. One of the main factor is the media representation of obesity (Greenstreet 2008). In today’s society parents are not only worrying about televisions influence on their kid’s behavior but their weight and health, too. According to study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, that researched the role of media in childhood obesity, stated the obesity increased by 2% for every hours of television in adolescent’s ages 12 to 17. The advertisement of food and beverages present a very strong influence on the children. Most of the products being advert...
Television has given each of us a podium to voice our ideas on all sorts of social and political issues and share information with one another. It has brought out stress-free ways of communication and provided us with simply accessible means to reach out to people in numerous parts of the world. Thanks to technological development, we have been capable to achieve a podium that allows us to present ourselves to the rest of the world. The negative influences of television that are a result of an overexposure to it, are most often talked about. It is accurate to a certain degree that television has affected the society in a negative manner. But, unquestionably, television has proved being an enjoyment.
One bad thing about TV advertisements is that is a reason why children are becoming obese. Caroline Knorr explain in her article “Commercialism: Keeping Kids Safe and Savvy” how in the US one out of three children are in risk for becoming obese (par. 1). This means that kids in every family are in risk of becoming obese if we don’t do something about it. Knorr states about how in the US TV ads have almost 90 percent of televised ads for junk food (par. 2) this proof that ads are one of the first influences of obesity. Knorr writes, “There is a direct connection between ads and eating habits” (par. 7). This show us the real impact of junk food advertisements. Most American kids get their daily calories from soft drinks, sweets, salty snacks, and fast food (Knorr, par. 7), which is the main reason children are eating junk food, because they see it in almost every ad they see in different media or magazines. Knorr explains how kids associate pleasure with junk food, eventually this leads to an unhealthy habit (pars. 7- 8), habits that are real hard to break, and there is were obesity begins. The problem with TV ads is that kids aren’t ready to understand w...
Obesity rates continue to rise, especially among adolescents. Which is why it is important to understand the role that advertising plays on the Obesity epidemic. If there is a correlation it is important to look at different policies in the political world that could combat unhealthy food advertisements to children. Since obesity is such a significant problem, it is vital to find out what is causing or influencing obesity rates to rise so that preventative measures can be implemented. Six different sources will be used to provide evidence for the effects of advertising on obesity.
Childhood obesity has gone from 1 in 20 to 1 in 5. Childhood obesity has more than doubled due to false advertisement in children’s television. The exposure our children received in America with junk food advertisement’s on television and online increased by 60 percent from 2008 to 2010. For children between the ages of 8 to 12; meaning 21 food advertisements a day. The food and advertising companies profit off selling foods and drinks that are labeled “diet” when in reality they contain twice the amount of sugar as before.
One way that fast food effects obesity is by advertising their products to children (Miller). In her article Food Advertising Contributes to Obesity, Patti Miller explains that the fast food companies are targeting kids and teenagers by advertising on television. The fast food advertisements are promoting unhealthy products as acceptable food which influences children to choose those meals. The American Psychological Association, an organization focused on improving the lives of individuals, expressed that with the exposure of different fast food commercials, children request to purchase these unhealthy products and cause the parents to be influenced by these requests. This concludes the idea that once children are encouraged by the commercials, they opt to consume the fast food advertised on television. Today, fast food companies are even advertising through schools by offering pizzas and burgers as school lunches, which consequently becomes a daily meal for children and teenagers to consume (Wadden, Brownell,
Melnick, Meredith. “Study: Fast-Food Advertisements Target Kids with Unehealthy Food, and It Works.” Time 8 Nov. 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2011.
As a little girl I loved watching television shows on Saturday mornings. I’d get upset when a show would proceed to commercial. That is until I watched the shiny new toy being played with by the girl my age and of course the cool new one that came into the happy meal, then I’d forget. After seeing the appealing commercial I’d run to my mom and try to slickly mention it. “You know McDonalds has a new Monster’s Inc. toy in their happy meal. Isn’t that great? “Now I realize that back then I was targeted by big companies to beg my parents for things that I didn’t need or that wasn’t good for me in order to make money. Advertising today is affecting the health of today’s children because they eat the unhealthy foods advertised to them on: television, the internet, and even at school. Therefore, an impassioned discussion of possible solutions has been brewing.
... for children. Children are exposed to 20,000 advertisements a year. The average child watches 8,000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school. By the time children graduate from high school, those numbers more than doubles. Furthermore, television is shown to influence attitudes about race and gender. Pro-social and anti-social behaviors are influenced by television.
Recently my 13 year old brother received his second phone, an IPhone 4s. I could not believe it a 13 year old carrying around one of the best pieces of technology in our world. Since then my brother’s free time outside running around has decreased drastically. His eyes and hands are glued to his IPhone 4s. Finding him playing basketball or throwing a football around in my yard when I go home on the weekends has become less and less. This is just one of thousands of children whose physical activity has suffered due to technology. Today our society has created the perception to children that without the latest technology they are not ‘cool’ or even worse poor. Kids then beg their parents for updated technology in order to fit in. Face it even adults these days need the latest technology to stay updated with their work. The routine of most children that come home from school is eat, watch tv, see some more commercials on food and video games and continue the awful habit they’ve created. The urge to play outside or get involved in a team is less appealing then beating their record at Call of Duty while getting a sugar high. Our world is creating an environment where playing Candy Crush is more popular than playing a sport. Thirty-two percent of children ages 2-19 are overweight and seventeen percent is considered to be obese (Hingle, Dale). The media influence on the youth shows a positive correlation to childhood obesity.