Marketing to children

She saved her pocket money

Advertisers spend 100s of billions of dollars a year worldwide encouraging, persuading and manipulating people into a consumer lifestyle that has devastating consequences for the environment through its extravagance and wastefulness. Advertising exploits individual insecurities, creates false needs and offers counterfeit solutions. It fosters dissatisfaction that leads to consumption. Children are particularly vulnerable to this sort of manipulation.


The nagging factor is huge in the industry and simply having Barbie of Buzz Lightyear on a cereal box changes a child's decision immediately. Over 70% of parents decisions are made through the influence of their children which shows there really is money in advertising to children or there are a lot of weak minded adults


Unsympathetically to the misfortune of parents having to cope with nagging, a survey was taken to INCREASE children's nagging to parents. This video looks at the mental state of children and the investment by huge corporations to gain a child's attention. Regardless of how unethical it may be, they are just doing there job.


Usually advertising to children consists simply of plonking a well know and loved character on a lunchbox or creating a jingle in which kids can sing along to and immediately sing when they see the product. Haribo have the infectious theme tune that I sing way too much for a young adult.


This forum discusses Sweden's decision to ban advertising to children under 12. Some really good points are made but I feel that parents ultimately have the power to cease a child watching television or spending too much time on the Xbox. As a whole, manipulating children into nagging there parents is unethical but it is a dog eat dog world and a lot of people have to make a living. I mean a huge percentage of the children influenced go on to become the people who advertise to children.