Write an article in about 100 to 150 words, about the pros and cons of impact of advertisement on
children.
Answers
Answer:Abstract
One of the controversial topic advertisers must deal with is the issue of advertising to children. Studies have also
shown that television is an important source of information for children about products. Critics argue that children are
especially vulnerable to advertising because they lack the experience and knowledge to understand and evaluate
critically the purpose of the persuasive advertising appeals. They also feel that the pre-school children cannot
differentiate between commercials and programmes and cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy. Critics
charge threat advertising to children is inherently unfair and deceptive and should be banned.
On the other hand are those that advertising is a part of life and children must learn to deal with it in consumer
socialization process of acquiring the skills needed to function in the market place. Some feel that parents should be
involved in helping children interpret advertising and can refuse to purchase products they believe are undesirable
for their children. The issues of advertising directed to children have been receiving great attention recently. There is
also a growing concern over how advertisers are using internet to communicate with and sell to children.
Advertising to children will remain a controversial topic. Some groups feel that government is responsible
for protecting children from potential harmful effects of advertising while others argue that parents are ultimately
responsible for doing so. It is important to many companies to communicate directly with children. However only
being sensitive to the naiveté of children as consumers will they be able to do so freely and avoid the conflict with
those who believe children should be protected from advertising. One group feels that banning television ads will
deny advertisers the right of speech to communicate with other audience members. They also feel that no authority
has the professional competence to serve as the ‘national nanny’ deciding what children should be exposed to. They
say children are aware that fruits and vegetables are more nutritious than the highly sugared foods. There have been
attempts to ban sugared food products directed to or seen by children with nutritional and or health disclosures. It is
reported that children between the ages of two and eleven spend about 25 hours per week watching television and
see approximately 20,000 ads per year and 7,000 of these ads are for sugared products.