What is it
Advertising directed to children includes paid advertisements
or commercials that appear in TV programs specifically made for
children or in other programs for children and where the product
is principally of interest to children under the age of 13 years.
Where does it occur
Free-to-air TV
Advertising directed to children occurs:
- in TV programs that are specifically made for children (such
as C programs on commercial TV)
- in other children's programs (such as cartoon programs), and
- in other G programs.
The amount of advertising can be as high as 15 minutes per hour.
Sometimes, the descriptions of prizes for a competition, or the
demonstration of a product in a cartoon program can be construed
as advertising. Such practices should occur in discrete segments
within the program.
Pay TV
Pay TV also carries advertising directed to children, but at a
lower level of minutes per hour.
Internet
Advertising directed to children also occurs on the Internet e.g.
in banner ads.
Relevant statistics
Australian children on average watch 2 hours and 30 minutes of
TV per day. In terms of advertising this means that Australian children
watching commercial TV are likely to see:
- 30 commercials per hour
- 75 commercials per day, and
- 23,000 commercials per year
Most advertisements (out of toy season) will be for confectionery,
soft drinks, sugared cereals and fast food chains.
Why advertising to children is a problem
What is advertised
Many of the products advertised are fatty, salty, sugary and fast
foods. Nutritionists and other health professionals see these as
promoting poor eating practices in children (see related topic:
Food Advertising).
Ability to distinguish advertising from programs
Young children are particularly vulnerable to advertising as they
are unable to distinguish advertising from programs. US researchers
such as Dale Kunkel (University of California at Santa Barbara)
and Don Roberts (Stanford University) say that children under age
of 5 or 6 do not distinguish effectively between advertisements
and the programs they are watching.
The
Australian Psychological Society has expressed concern that
children under the age of five are generally unable to differentiate
advertisements from programs.
Ability to understand 'selling' intent of advertising
The
Australian Psychological Society reports research which indicates
that most children six to seven hears of age understand the selling
function of advertisements, while most eight year olds understand
their specifically persuasive intent. They expressed concern that
children are less likely to adopt a critical approach to their processing
of advertising intent.
Many of the advertisements use techniques that mislead children
as to the worth or performance of the product. As Roberts says,
to understand selling intent, the child has to be able to take the
perspective of another, and to understand that the seller will engage
in puffery, trickery, exaggeration in order to sell. (Kunkel, Dale
(ref))
Impact on family
Children are effective influencers of family purchasers, pestering
their parents to buy products that they neither need nor really
understand. A British study reported that 85% of a sample of 4-13
year olds acknowledged that they had asked their parents to buy
advertised products and 66% claimed that their parents had met their
request.
Advertising pressures can produce significant conflict between
parents and children. Many vulnerable families succumb, spending
dollars they can least afford. Pester power often works.
An opinion from a reliable source
Steve Biddulph, noted Australian author of books on child raising,
says that advertising to children is an unfair practice. He says
that advertising works by making you unhappy with their lives, anxious
and unsatisfied. It sells to them by damaging their mental health.
Who is the most vulnerable
Children under the age of 7 or 8. Advertising directed as this
age group is inherently unfair.
But even older children do not always know when advertisements
are telling the truth, and are vulnerable to the appeals (as even
adults are) to the appeals to their self esteem, anxieties, and
need to be seen as "cool".
The advertising industry
- Big business now runs annual conferences (with big fees) to
share the best techniques to sell their products to children.
Children are being actively targeted by the advertising industry
for three reasons:
- they have considerable money of their own
- they are powerful influencers of family purchases, from breakfast
cereal to the family car
- if captured early, can develop a warm and fuzzy feeling towards
a company for life.
Relevant rules and regulations
The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has a set of legally
binding standards
for advertising directed to children that occurs within C programs.
Commercial
and Pay TV have Codes
of Practice governing advertising directed to children in other
children's programs. There are limits on the amount of time occupied
by the advertisements.
Basically they require that no advertisement may mislead or deceive
a child, and that the techniques used in ads should fairly represent
the product.
There are requirements that apply to the promotion of "premium
offers" (the trinket a child gets if they buy some other product
such as a fast food meal).
What parents can do
- If you see advertising that you believe is misleading or unfair,
complain to the station that screened
it.
- Give your children a solid sense of self esteem. For more information
about self esteem and how to help your children develop it, go
to the topic Self
Esteem on the Child
& Youth Health (South Australian Department of Human Services)
website
- Minimise exposure to commercial TV until children are over eight.
Watch the ABC or Pay TV. Keep a stock of favourite videos (or
borrow from the local library) for young children.
- Avoid exposure to cartoon series that are toy linked (see related
topics).
- Encourage children to avoid Internet sites that are product
linked.
- Use your power as parent to educate your children about advertising.
Talk about the techniques, show children the real product in stores
and compare it to the way it was advertised. Comment on advertisements
that exploit.
What regulators could do
Regulators need to be encouraged to enforce the present set of
standards for advertising to children more effectively.
Summary
Advertising and marketing to children is big business. The techniques
being used are unfair to young children. Parents need to minimise
(where possible) young children's exposure to advertising, and seek
less commercial environments. Parents can also be powerful media
educators.
Related topics
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