Developmental concerns
Parents of young children have an important role to play in protecting their kids from invasive marketing, and in educating them about advertising from an early age.
According to Consumer Reports magazine, "young children have difficulty distinguishing between advertising and reality in ads, and ads can distort their view of the world."
Research has shown that children between the ages of two and five cannot differentiate between regular TV programming and commercials. Young children are especially vulnerable to misleading advertising and don't begin to understand that advertisements are not always true until they're eight.
According to the Canadian Toy Testing Council the biggest area of concern with toy ads in Canada is exaggeration. Young children often think a toy actually can do a lot more than it can because of the way toys are portrayed in advertisements.
These concerns have led some jurisdictions to ban all advertising to children. Québec has banned print and broadcast advertising aimed at kids under thirteen. Sweden has banned advertisements aimed at children under 12 and it is lobbying European Union members to adopt similar policies.
Effects of materialism
"Advertising at its best is making people feel that without their product, you're a loser. Kids are very sensitive to that.
Nancy Shalek (former president Grey Advertising) |
Parents should be concerned about the effect excessive materialism can have on the development of their children's self image and values. In her 1997 book on modern family life, The Shelter of Each Other, author Mary Pipher worries that our consumer-saturated culture may be breeding feelings of "narcissism, entitlement and dissatisfaction" in today's kids.
Children's identities shouldn't be defined by their consumer habits; yet that is the main way they see themselves reflected in the media—as consumers, and advertisers are targeting younger and younger children with this message. The marketing of merchandise based on the popular pre-school TV programs Barney and Teletubbies marked the beginning of identifying toddlers as a consumer market. Reporting on this trend, the industry magazine KidsScreen noted that: "Agencies are cautiously eyeing the zero-to-three year-old demographic—a group that poses tremendous challenges and opportunities, because research has indicated that children are capable of understanding brands at very young ages."
A healthy society raises children to be responsible citizens rather than just consumers. Creating healthy, happy families means spending time together rather than spending money. For tips on promoting a non-commercial family lifestyle, see Dealing with Marketing: What Parents Can Do.
Junk food advertising and nutrition concerns
According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, most food advertising on children's TV shows is for fast foods, soft drinks, candy and pre-sweetened cereals—while commercials for healthy food make up only 4 per cent of those shown.
Fast food chains spend more than 3 billion dollars a year on advertising, much of it aimed at children. To directly target children, the fast food industry uses more than traditional commercials. Restaurants offer incentives such as playgrounds, contests, clubs, games, and free toys and other merchandise related to movies, TV shows and even sports leagues.
Child advocates condemned PBS for licensing of Teletubbies merchandise to Burger King and McDonald's in 1999, but that hasn't stopped the fast food cross-promotion trend. As author Eric Schlosser explains in his 2001 book Fast Food Nation, "America's fast food culture has become indistinguishable from the popular culture of its children."
The results of all this aggressive marketing of fast food, soft drinks and candy to children—A nation of overweight children, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada—which says that almost one in four Canadian children between 7 and 12, is obese. A 2002 U.S. study showed that fast-food commercials during kids programming on Saturday mornings are pitching bigger and bigger portions, a trend that researchers link to an the alarming rise of obesity among young people.
Marketing toys based on teen and adult entertainment
Marketing young children toys that are based on restricted movies and Mature rated video games is a common industry practice. A report in 2000 by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission exposed how the media industries actively target young children with violent entertainment meant for adults. Among their findings was the fact that action toys, based on characters from video games rated Teen and Mature, were labelled suitable for children (sometimes as young as 4 or 5 years old).
The packaging for one action figure recommended for kids four years old and up, invites them to "join in the blood bath" by playing the Nintendo version of the game—even though it's M-rated (for ages 17 and up).
A company which produces toys based on the World Wrestling Federation encourages children four and up to use their play sets to "bash and dump opponents senseless with an array of street fighting accessories."
Young consumers as collectors
Marketers have discovered something about children that parents have long known—they love to collect things. Kids' collections used to consist of marbles, stamps or coins. But now, thanks to our consumer culture, kids amass huge collection of store-bought items such as Beanie Babies, Barbies or Pokémon cards and figures. The marketing strategy behind the Pokémon was simple and lucrative—create 150 Pokémon characters, then launch a marketing campaign called "Gotta Catch 'Em All," to encourage children to collect all 150 of the cheaply made, over priced figures.
Because most collecting crazes are short-lived fads, the sheen quickly fades on the current collection and kids move on to the next big trend—leaving behind boxes of discarded toys.
