Kids represent an important demographic to marketers because they have their own purchasing power, they influence their parents' buying decisions and they're the adult consumers of the future. In the 1980s, the market for toys and games began to expand dramatically, as children became a major new target in capitalism’s restless search for fresh markets. At this time, there was also a growing awareness of the influence children could have on household purchasing decisions – a ‘discovery’ that children are interested in programmes, advertisements or products that are not directly aimed at them. In 1984, a survey by Cocks Williamsons Associated LTD found that children’s favourite television advertisements included adverts for non-children’s products and that beer advertising was he second favourite category of advertising among 11 to 12 year olds. While these findings generated predictable complaints, they also reflected the way in which the potential of ‘pester power’ was being actively reconsidered. For example, several studies have found that the amount of time children had spent watching TV was a significant predictor of how often they requested products at the supermarket, and that as many as three out of four requests were for products seen in TV advertisements. These studies have also found that children’s supermarket requests do indeed have a fairly high rate of success (Studies by Galst, J and White, M).
The number of channels rose considerably in the 1990s, and the opportunities to advertise directly to children expanded as well. Researchers also hypothesise the cross-promotions between food products and popular TV and film characters are encouraging children to buy ad consume high calorie foods. An example of this is that McDonalds and Disney have an exclusive agreement under which Happy Meals include toys from top Disney movies. Many advertisements also use cartoon characters to sell to children, which research has shown to be particularly effective in aiding children’s slogan recall and ability to identify the product. Examples include SpongeBob Cheez-its, Hulk pizzas and Scooby-Doo marshmallow cereal. Fast food outlets spend 4 billion in television advertising targeted at children. They are shown to be effective as my questionnaire results showed that 14 out of 16 of the children asked said they most associate a free toy or Disney film with McDonalds.
Advertisements have also promoted unrealistically thin body types as the ideal, which could possibly encourage children to engage in unhealthy dieting or eating disorders. I think this is giving children contradictory messages about eating habits and body image: Be thin but eat fast food and sugary snacks. A study carried out by Becker et al into eating disorders in teenage girls aimed to use a naturally occurring setting where television was introduced to Fiji to see the effect this would have on the attitudes and incidence of anorexia. Before TV was introduced a sample of girls were interviewed about eating habits and three years later were re-interviewed. The number who were at risk of disordered eating had risen from 13% to 29%. This suggests that media exposure to western methods of weight control and ideals of thinness leads to a changed attitude towards eating.
The research into the link between eating disorders and the media has shown to have a negative effect on children. Television producers have been told by the government to reduce or regulate food adverts targeted to children. Most researchers agree that children do not understand adverts in the same way adults do. Most children under six cannot distinguish between programme content and advertisements and most children under eight do not understand that the purpose of advertising is to sell a product. However, this cannot explain how children are so easily influenced through advertising. Sweden, Norway and Finland do not permit sponsorship of children’s programmes and also do not advertise directly to children under the age of 12. The BBC decided to prohibit use of its cartoon characters in fast food adverts and England is currently pushing for stricter guidelines. However, children’s TV producers note that banning food advertising would remove one of the most profitable sources of funding for children’s television. The producers are getting the blame for the problem of obesity and this shows that they only care about the money they receive and not about children’s health.
Overall, I feel advertising has a negative effect on children, specifically relating to levels of obesity. Research has proven that children do influence purchasing decisions which in turn affects their health and advertisers must be aware of this and reduce the amount of food advertisements specifically aimed at children. As it has been shown that children do not necessarily watch their own programmes and prefer advertisements not aimed at them, advertisers can be more clever and maybe add in a cartoon to attract them as well as the adult. As ‘the courtship of children is no surprise, since increasingly that is where the money is’(The Times)
