Advertising - an evaluation between the speech given by Mr. Axel Edling on the effect of advertisement on the children and the position paper by the RAC programme which represent the advertisers, agencies and media throughout Europe.

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Task – 1

Critically discuss the speech and the position paper with reference to the text provided.

It’s an evaluation between the speech given by Mr. Axel Edling on the effect of advertisement on the children and the position paper by the RAC programme which represent the advertisers, agencies and media throughout Europe and worldwide. Mr. Edling here is representing the Swedish legislation and presenting the view of Swedish Legislation.

The speech discusses why the advertisement should not be targeted to the children, especially to the children below the age of 12. He specifies that the ban on advert is not for specific type of products instead it covers all adverts that are created to get attention of the children and such bans are accepted by the people of Sweden. Whereas in second text the association argues that the advertiser should be allowed to produce TV advertisement for all ages of children and should be committed with high standard of self regulation.    

The speakers views are that young children do not understand the advertisement and its content and the basic principal of ICC code is that the “advertisement should be easily identified as such”. He states that the commercial communication is a special kind of communication where the business firm hire qualified set of people to design a message to promote the product. However the association in the second text firmly believes that the adverts have the responsibility to make the children understand and interpret the advertisement in the manner which does affect their daily lives this will also lead to development of media literacy across the European Nation.

The speakers argue that sometimes the advertisement does not give the clear picture and the children below certain level of maturity are not sure what the objective of the advertisement is. The speaker takes strong reference of Swedish sociologist Mr. Erling Bjurstrom. Bjurstrom in his research he concluded that children between the age of 3 and 4 sometime can distinguish between the advisement and programmes but this ability develop till the age 6 or 8, and till the age of 10 practically all children develops this ability. The speaker has taken references of some studies where it is mentioned that the children by the age of 12 develops the fundamental understanding of advertisement and the purpose of adverts. The writers in second text point out that the children today are media literate; however there is responsibility to help children understand and interpret the advert in correct context.

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 The speakers in his speech suggest the advertiser to take the business codes seriously and should not relay on self regulation. He mentions that the advertisers should not target TV advertisement at the small children rather to their guardian who can perfectly judge the requirement of their child. Where as in the second text the association is committed to work with parents and school to identify new and developing issues and is also committed to follow the advertising code of the ICC and also committed to the self regulatory codes. The ICC code includes specific provision on advertising to ...

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