Advertising Aimed at Children

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Producing a 30 seconds commercial can cost more than filming a whole season of a television show today. Advertisers and marketers put in immense amount of work to create the most appealing advertisement to attract their viewers. Young audiences are a popular choice for advertisers to target because they are easy to persuade, as a result they can bring big profit to the companies. Children are exposed to on average 40,000 ads annually (Gunter, p2), and it has become a concerning problem for parents and experts. While the government put out regulations and protection acts as safeguards, it seems to have little effects on the advertisers. Marketers and advertisers utilize techniques that have a tendency to mislead and influence children into buying their products. These advertisements are having negative effects on children’s health, making them more materialistic and on occasions, prompting them to use violence to get what they want. These issues are raising concerns for parents, who want to put a stop in television advertisements. Yet, restricting television advertisements is a form of censorship, thus contradicting the First Amendment of the constitution. Hence, our government regulations on ads aimed at children need to be reassessed to better protect younger audiences from today's highly commercialized society.

Advertising “refers to a system of communication through which goods and services are brought to the attention of the public.” (Johnston, p.57). Advertisement are no longer just about promoting a product, they now exist to advertise lifestyles. In today’s competitive society, marketers and advertisers always want to be one step ahead of their competitors; and sometimes it can result in misconduct.The Federal Communic...

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