Current Event I

Advertising harms the healthy development of a child

One of the biggest issue with advertising is that it takes advantage of children naivety. Children simply believe that what they hear and see is true. According to this fact, they also believe that the product that is advertised is exactly the same as presented in TV and will provide the same pleasure or evoke feeling of excitement. Even though advertising exaggerate things and teens or adults are aware of this, little children cannot recognize that something is unrealistic. Adults do not believe that sport shoes will make them more fit without exercising, but children may think that when they eat some kind of cereals every day, they will be healthier, fit or look like some superhero.

How children see the advertising? 0-2 years old child notice just TV images; 2-5 years old kids understand TV literally. Furthermore, child who is around 4 years old does not realize that some cartoon finished and the another program or commercial started. 5-8 years old children begin to develop strategies to manipulate their parents. Only children older than 12 years old understand the persuasive character of advertising. Marketing people realize these facts and they are not afraid to use them in their interest.

How big damage advertising can cause? First of all, children are becoming less creative which goes hand in hand with imagination. Also, advertising induces passivity which can be very harmful to children in any age because by playing children develop language, social skills, explore the world around them and learn how to express their feeling. Furthermore, ads increase marketing segmentation by genders, link the concept of happiness with the habit of consumption, indicates how one should looks like or what one should have to be socially accepted.  Children depend on a good example to form their character and I am not sure that TV can provide it.

Sources 

Projeto Criança e Consumo. (2009). WHY ADVERTISING IS BAD FOR CHILDREN. Retrieved from http://alana.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/why-advertising-is-bad-for-children.pdf