Violence and delinquency caused
by advertisement
Before reading this post, please, watch the video and think about it for a moment...
Children do not
want to be different than their friends, they want to be accepted in their
groups and they believe goods or products will provide this. Off course
advertising takes advantage of this and they make children think that the
product they are selling will make them socially accepted. According to this
information, children may also think that if they do not have new mobile phone
or the new toy everyone has will make them unpopular among friends. And what
children do when they really want something? They will put a lot of pressure on
their parents or guardians to buy them the product which can lead to the fact
that children become violent to get what they want. I think many of you were
witnesses of this kind of children behavior. It can happen in supermarket when
children want candy or some snack, also in toyshop when they want this new toy
that they saw on TV and all of their friends already have one. When parents
refuse to buy these products, children often start to cry and scream, they may
even break something or throw off products from the shelfs. In many cases
parents do not want to cause troubles in the shop or they just simply feel
embarrassed in front of other people so they buy them what they want.
The real problem here is that it
is the worst think they can do, children remember this and next time they will
try the same “strategy” to get want they want. Next problem is they children
often think they “need” the product. They do not say “I really want this toy”,
instead of this they say “I really need this toy”. And that is exactly what
advertising does. It transforms wants into needs. This can be very dangerous
for them in the future because it is important for children to learn the real
values and recognize correctly their emotions.
Unfortunately,
today´s kids can be very mean to each other. This is why parents should explain
them that it is not important to have the newest things on market to have good
friends and also that it is unacceptable to laugh or be mean to others because
they do not have something what others can afford. Maybe it is cliché but they
should also tell them that every parent or guardian love their kids and would
do everything for them, but they cannot buy them everything they want, but it
does not mean they do not love them. Maybe this simple explanation is the best
one for children?
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
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