How do advertisements affect young children's mental and physical health?

How do advertisements affect young children's mental and physical health?

Introduction

Today's children are different in many ways from previous generations, but possibly the most pressure on our young children today is Television advertisements. In 1997, the nation's estimated 34 million children age 12 and under will have spent or influenced spending of a record $500 billion. There is noticeably a great deal of importance in this subject, many books have been written, and many studies and reports done on the effects of TV advertising on children. In this paper we will look at some of the reasons why we advertise to children, how advertisements affect young children's mental and physical health and some negative effects of advertisement on children.

Discussion

One way that advertisements attract the attention of young children is through exaggeration. Many product advertisements will claim that their product is “newer” and “better” than others out in the market. By saying that owning a certain product will make you “better” than the next person, it makes children want the product more. Advertisers also make use of thematic elements of fantasy to get children's attention. Many television programs for children have characters in them that are not human but share most of human capabilities, particularly speech. Advertisers use this connection in order to create a special relationship between the child and the character. When the child associates him/herself with characters in TV shows then they will most likely form that positive attitude between him/her and the product being sold.

How does this fit into gender stereotyping? When ads targeted to young boys feature characters that are male and powerful, then young boys will create the mindset that boys are supposed to be strong powerful, aggressive men as well. When young girls see nurturing characters on television ads to which they create a positive connection to, they might want to be nurturing themselves. While this may not necessarily be such a bad thing, nurturing stereotypes will create a distorted self image in females. If girls continue to think that they are only nurturing they will not strive to be the assertive individuals they can be, capable of doing anything their counterparts can.

Advertising is adversely affecting children's health in several ways. The American Academy of Pediatrics identifies obesity, drug, tobacco and alcohol use as the primary health-related effects of advertising on children. Junk-food advertising targeting young children and primarily shown during kids' after-school and Saturday-morning viewing times spurs children to increasingly request these products that are high in calories and low in nutritional value. Exposure to alcohol and tobacco advertising through sports programming or product placement in movies and video games leads adolescents as young as 13 years old to experiment with these substances at an earlier age.

Through regular pharmaceutical advertising on prime time television, children and teens are learning that there is a drug available to cure any problem. A long-time mantra of the advertising industry is that "sex sells" and children ...