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Effects of marketing on children
Effects of marketing on children
Effects of marketing on children
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Since 1963, Ronald McDonald has been the spokesperson of the multibillion dollar fast food franchise McDonald. For over 50 years, the clown figure brought billions of revenue to the corporation by relating him to the underage children. Today, statistics shows that 47 percent of adults are in favor of Ronald McDonald retiring and 32% of them are strongly in favor of it even though most of them do not see the harm of the advertising strategy (Andrzejczyk 216). Corporate Accountability International believes that its time for the clown to retire in able to end its predatory marketing to underage children. The essay “Predatory Marketing to Children and Underage Youths” of Cynthia Andrzejczyk explores the success of Ray Kroc in making McDonald a multibillion dollar fast food corporation through Ronald McDonald. The success was owed to the creation of advertisement strategies that directly targeted the underage population. The creation of Ronald McDonald as the face and promoter of McDonald to the bombardment of its face in television, movies …show more content…
It is a belief that underage children do not have the intellectual capacity to rationalize their decisions. This is the reason why the Supreme Court believe that a restriction in advertising is essential (qtd. in Andrzejczyk 216). While children watch commercial featuring Ronald McdDonald, they would only see a clown having fun eating a hamburger. It would be difficult for children due to their age to recognize the negative ramification of eating unhealthy diet. The corporation advertisers exploited this vulnerability and use it as an advantage to market to children. They relied on children to nag and whine to their parents, and in a way, pushing them to advertise eating unhealthy hamburgers to their family. In fact, as mention above, children were responsible for 670 million dollars purchased made by a family (215). It is nearly thirteen times higher than the sales from children
McDonald's is one of the most popular fast food restaurant across the country with some of the most sugar and calorie packed foods. In America that spells trouble since the smaller sized items tend to be the largest sizes in other counties across the globe. When a group of children were shown images of historical and religious figures, a majority of them were unable to recognize them; but when shown an image of Ronald McDonald, the children could automatically tell who he is and what he does. There seems to be no end in sight for what is becoming a continental issue.
From cartoon and sports to having the toys in meals in a huge display and lowered. There are even advertisements that trick adults. They are convincing, but it can all be stopped with just simple reminders that it’s not real or it’s not good to have this in your body. These reminders can help America become less obese and more health conscious and can even affect the way children think as they grow up surrounded by them. The United States is slowly increasing its awareness of the condition that it is in by companies improving foods and people paying more attention to the nutrition’s in foods. Also many food companies have died down on television advertising for kids, but it is still found in other expressed ways. While it is okay to advertise the question of is it okay to advertise to children is still not answered. It all depends on the consumers what is right and wrong and how to approach each product. Obesity from these products can be cured by hard exercise, but this is not recommended for children. It is more efficient for children to just eat healthy as they are still growing each day. So the next time an ad pops up on the screen and that little girl or boy is focused on it try to explain to them by reading the ingredients or the nutrition label why they should not eat it often. With small steps like these children
The New York Times bestseller Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is one of the most riveting books to come out about fast food restaurants to date (Schlosser, 2004). Fast food consumption has become a way of life for many in the United States as well as many other countries in the world. The author Eric Schlosser an investigative reporter whose impeccable researching and bold interviewing captures the true essence of the immense impact that fast food restaurants are having in America (2004). Beginning with McDonald’s, the first fast food restaurant, which opened on April 15, 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois to current trends of making fast food a global realization McDonald’s has paved the way for many fast food restaurants following the same basic ideal that is tasty foods served fast at a minimal cost (2011). Schlosser explains how fast food restaurants have gained substantial market share of the consumers; he also shows that by marketing to children and offering less unhealthful fare, that are purchased from mega-companies which are often camouflaged with added ingredients and cooked unhealthful ways, that these companies are indeed causing irreparable harm to our country (2004).
Common believers are right that parents should be responsible for their child’s expenditures, but they seem to be on more dubious ground then they claim that is only the parents fault. ZincZenko wrote “Industries vulnerable. Fast-food companies are marketing to children a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels.” Incidentally, kids are blasted with commercials, billboards advertisements, and radio advertisements from the moment they wake up to the time they shut their eye. I believe that the consumer, even if may be a kid, should be responsible for what they are putting in their bodies. They should be well-informed by their caregivers on how to read and find nutrition facts based on what they are eating. They should be educated to what is healthy and good for them along what they should try their best to avert from. I believe on one hand, the parents should be responsible for what their kids are intaking, but on the other hand I urge parents to knowledge their kids to have self responsibility to choose, themselves, the more beneficial snack, meal, and
Kelly Brownell and Marion Nestle write that advertisements contribute to the increase of obesity in kids, since “each year kids see more than 10,000 foods ads on TV alone, almost all for items like soft drinks, fast foods and sugared cereals.” Brownell and Nestle fail to see that kids are under the authority of their parents and they decide what their kids eat, so in reality the advertisements target the parents. Kids are the reflection of their parents. Children walk down the same path as their parents, as the image in the article demonstrates. If parents walk towards the path of obesity, then their children will follow their example. Brownell and Nestle also explain, “Humans are hardwired… to like foods high in sugar, fat, and calories.” What Brownell and Nestle are saying is that it is a waste of time to try to eat healthy because it is against our nature. However, if that is the case, then no one would be healthy; everyone would be obese. There is no one to blame but ourselves for our
Children are the easiest audience to target and it should be illegal to aim advertisements at them. Did you know that 26% of advertisements aimed at children are for breakfast cereals? Cereal is one of the most common breakfast foods that children eat; Trix cereal is one example of many sugary cereals that children consume every single day. The advertisements use different marketing techniques to target children to purchase the cereal. They use characters, celebrity endorsements, online games and quotes to make it seem exclusive. A sugary cereal such as this one is one small portion of a large problem – childhood obesity.
The land of the free, brave and consumerism is what the United States has become today. The marketing industry is exploiting children through advertisement, which is ridiculously unfair to children. We are around advertisement and marketing where ever we go; at times, we don't even notice that we are being targeted to spend our money. As a matter of fact, we live to buy; we need and want things constantly, and it will never stop. The film, Consuming Kids , written by Adriana Barbaro and directed by Jeremy Earp, highlights children as this powerful demographic, with billions of dollars in buying power, but the lack of understanding of marketers’ aggressive strategies. Children are easily influenced and taken advantage of, which is why commercialization of children needs to stop. Commercialization to children leads to problems that parents do not even know are happening such as social, future, and rewired childhood problems. Government regulations need to put a stop to corporations that live, breathe and sell the idea of consumerism to children and instead show that genuine relationships and values are what are important.
It has been noticed throughout the running of McDonald’s that they tend to market to the eyes of children with Ronald McDonald as their notorious “spokesclown” that is recognized by 96% of American children. Also, in 1998, McDonald’s signed a long-term deal with the Walt Disney Company to include Disney merchandise as giveaways in its Happy Meals.
It is the parent’s choice if they want to but the product. “There are no true legal grounds to support it, and honestly, everyone has a right to choose. Eating junk food is a life choice and should not be ashamed. It’s also a double edged sword to put forth a ban on ads and could hurt the industry.”(Should junk food) There is no good reason to ban junk food and fast food ads. “Junk food ads should not be banned during children’s programming because it’s the parents who should regulate what their kids eat or watch, not the companies.”(Should junk food) It is also not the company’s responsibility to keep the kids healthy but it i...
The main target customer for McDonald's includes parents with young children, young children, business customers, and teenagers. Perhaps the most obvious marketing for McDonald's is its' marketing towards children and the parents of young children. Ronald McDonald was first introduced in 1963 and marked the beginning of their focus on young children as a critical part of their ongoing business. Parents like to visit McDonald's because it is a treat for the kids, and the kids enjoy the cartoon like atmosphere. McDonald's also targets business customers as a part of their core business. Business customers may stop during the workday and can count on fast service, and consistently good food. Another major target of McDonald's marketing is to teens. Teens find the value menu especially appealing and McDonald's markets their restaurants as a cool place to meet with their friends and to work (The Times 100).
Firstly, McDonald’s paid attention to the children in every country. They have built “happy land” for them and offered the “happy meals” with innovative toys to them. Since children is one of the biggest consumer groups to McDonald’s, and they have created a place with “happiness” culture to attract the children. It is a successful decision that building a business by focusing on the children since it can encourage the whole family to come to McDonald’s.McDonald’s is not only selling the happy meal to the children, but also selling American culture to them, it is a proper strategy to build the brand loyalty from th...
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,
Across America in homes, schools, and businesses, sits advertisers' mass marketing tool, the television, usurping freedoms from children and their parents and changing American culture. Virtually an entire nation has surrendered itself wholesale to a medium for selling. Advertisers, within the constraints of the law, use their thirty-second commercials to target America's youth to be the decision-makers, convincing their parents to buy the advertised toys, foods, drinks, clothes, and other products. Inherent in this targeting, especially of the very young, are the advertisers; fostering the youth's loyalty to brands, creating among the children a loss of individuality and self-sufficiency, denying them the ability to explore and create but instead often encouraging poor health habits. The children demanding advertiser's products are influencing economic hardships in many families today. These children, targeted by advertisers, are so vulnerable to trickery, are so mentally and emotionally unable to understand reality because they lack the cognitive reasoning skills needed to be skeptical of advertisements. Children spend thousands of hours captivated by various advertising tactics and do not understand their subtleties.
McGinnis, J. Michael., Jennifer Appleton. Gootman, and Vivica I. Kraak. Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? Washington, D.C.: National Academies, 2006. Print.
Advertising has had a powerful impact on today’s children. From songs, to logos. to characters, advertisers keep in mind their audiences. Competition is the force which causes advertisers to target children. Children are targeted through the catch phrases. animated characters, and toys in these competitive advertisements.