The Drawbacks of Children's Advertising
Burch, Chairman of Federal Communications Commission of US believes "that in case of advertising directed to children, the standards of what is false and deceptive must be judged in light of the crucial fact that the audience is so unsophisticated, so young and trusting. It is, I submit, intolerable to seek to bilk the innocent with shoddy advertising appeals. As some person amply put it that is akin to statutory rape."(243) What Burch makes clear is that advertising to children is unfair and destructive as it exploits the disability of the child to understand the purpose of advertising. As we shall see in greater detail later, advertising causes parent-child conflict and child unhappiness as a result of an unsatisfied desire. In addition, it challenges desire for alcoholic beverages and more significant, it inspires violence in the child. Let us examine the frequently advertised products, the techniques used to boost sales and the psychological and the ethical appeals being utilized. An analysis of children's television revealed that about twenty per cent of program time of Saturday mornings was devoted to commercials, and during the pre-Christmas season more than thirty advertisements were made each hour.
To better understand what the advertisers try to do, one just needs to ask himself or herself whether young children are able to distinguish fantasy and reality? According to him, the media shows the criminals as rich, driving luxurious cars,teaching the children that they can also achieve that through violence (Mitchell, 8). Despite the advertiser's opposition, the fact remains that commercials could be associated with some behavioral and emotional responses of a negative or antisocial nature of a child. The most undesirable outcomes that have been observed are parent-child conflict and child unhappiness. Children's ads never say to children phrases like "Ask your Mom to get one for you" due to the nature of child which forces children to pressure their parents to buy.
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Approximate Word count = 1633
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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