Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Advertising to Children: Should the Government Intervene?



Advertising to Children: Should the Government Intervene?
Autumn Johnson

Advertising to Children Video

There’s a lot of talk about where the line should be drawn for the government in terms of stepping in on a free market economy. Additionally, for what should this interference occur?
For the regulation of advertising aimed at children? While many argue no, the government should not interfere with the advertising that is intended for children, just as many swing the opposite way and believe that advertising should be monitored. Because younger generations are the future of the nation and will behave later on based on what they learn in their formative years we should control what they are being influenced by now and allow the government to step in.

. In fact, there is quite a significant consequence on the economy from the advertising that children are viewing. The big ad companies take advantage of the fact that children are easily influenced and create ads that specifically target their future buyers. By creating this demand for products in the children, since they are not economically able to provide for themselves, parents are the ones buying the items that are seen in the ads. In total, parents are responsible for a whopping $670 billion dollars in spending each year from influencing by their teens and children under the age of 12. Some people might ask, that’s a good thing for the economy, right? Wrong. Parents, which make up roughly 66% of the population, may be being put into debt by their own children, which could ultimately halt the flow of money in the market because the income of the parents is no longer substantial enough to afford market products. This wouldn’t just affect the households, but the businesses, firms, and even the government would all lose money and resources due to such a catastrophic event. All this from kids watching a little TV, you say? It gets worse.

Teens alone are responsible for spending $160 billion dollars a year as a result of marketing and children up to 11 spend $18 billion a year. If children this young are spending this much of their own money already, this could be a reflection of their future spending habits. If these habits were to continue, once they are adults and are the individuals accountable for the economy, an unstable one can be predicted. Like their own parents, the brain-addled, advertisement-influenced generation will grow up and not be able to support the economy with regular purchases.

Several studies have been conducted on the effects of advertising on children, and the results are not pretty. Advertisements affect the mental and physical well being of children.  Studies show that children who have seen the ads for unhealthy products like junk food, combined with the deceptive nature of most ads, are more likely to live unhealthy lifestyles and be obese. In addition, a study done by Dr. Robert J Hancox on the correlation between adolescent television viewing and adult health, in which individuals were studied from birth until the age of 26 years, proved that television viewing in childhood and adolescence is associated with overweight, poor fitness, smoking and raised cholesterol in adulthood (Sciencedirect.com, 2004). Since the majority of ads are seen by children appear on the television, it can be said that advertisements have a negative effect on the health of children exposed to them. Racking up medical bills in addition to coercing their parents into buying them advertised products, children will be pushing their parents towards serious debt.

Now, the general consensus about problems in the United States is that because of our free enterprise economy all our issues will somehow work themselves out - self regulation. Leaving the issue of advertisements aimed at children to self-regulation is risky business though. There have been laws like the Children’s Food and Beverages Advertising Initiative that have been passed in an attempt to limit the number of unhealthy commercials seen by children under the age of 11, but research shows that other than this feeble attempt, the food industry does little to reduce the exposure of children to products that are unhealthy, and other, more harmful industries have done nothing.

Yet, there is not a great demand of the government to regulate the ads younger audiences are viewing on a daily basis. Is a small deviance in our level of economic freedom really that much of a negative externality to pay for a healthy future for our children? The opportunity cost of a little freedom is nothing compared to the benefit of a little government intrudance. We need to preserve the innocence children have left and push the government to become stricter on the influencers of young minds across the nation, not only to protect the future of this country but the future of our economy.






  • " Association between child and adolescent television viewing and adult health: a longitudinal birth cohort study ." ScienceDirect.com | Search through over 11 million science, health, medical journal full text articles and books.. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article

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10 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 2, 2013 at 8:22 AM

    While child advertising may be influential towards children, it is ultimately the parents who allow these advertisements to take effect. If the parents buckle down and tell their children no every once in awhile, this wouldn't be as big of a problem. But the fact that children are spending so much of their own money is a problem. I am also worried that this earlier spending will lead to future debt by future generations because of early spending habits.

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  2. AnonymousOctober 2, 2013 at 9:06 PM

    I agree in part with what you said but also with what Tyler said. The statistics that you mentioned are appalling and it is frightening to see that people are becoming more and more careless about finances at younger ages. However, I think it is ultimately the parents' decision. They need to learn to say no to their children and as long as no ads cross already set ethical or marketing boundaries, the businesses should have a right to promote their products. For me, there doesn't seem to be much difference between advertising to adults and to children. If anything, parents should turn it into a good lesson on self-control and smart spending.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 3, 2013 at 10:04 AM

    I think that we should be very concerned with advertisement to children and the consequences it has on their thoughts and decisions. For example, smoking commercials could negatively impact future decisions of adolescents as they grow into the age of the temptation of smoking. However, whether or not it is the government's job to regulate these advertisements is another issue. I think that government influence is necessary and that they should regulate what advertisements can be shown to children because adolescents are easily impressionable as their brain develops and bad advertising can affect their future decisions and actions in a very negative way. Therefore it would be beneficial for the government to intervene.

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  4. AnonymousOctober 4, 2013 at 6:35 AM

    I agree with what Tyler and Gabrielle said. The government makes a lot of money off of advertising and they do have the right to promote their products. What a child does and see when they are younger influences and impacts their adult self so I do believe that there should be a limit to what children are seeing since it does affect our future so much. But ultimately it is the parent’s decision on what they allow their children to watch. If the statistics are true about how much children are already spending, I can’t even imagine what they will spend when they have a job and are making a lot more money.

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  5. AnonymousOctober 4, 2013 at 8:38 AM

    I was completely shocked at the numbers and how much marketing truly affects our economies outcome. I totally agree that the government should have regulation no matter if our economy is a mixed free market economy. The marketing not only has an affect on the future generations but the present generation and their spending. The advertising could alter a child’s view on a certain subject that could potentially damage the future. Also, parents want to “waste” their money because they children non stop beg for these things that aren't necessary.

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  6. AnonymousOctober 4, 2013 at 9:15 AM

    I thought this topic was a really interesting choice. The fact that parents may be put into debt by their own children is crazy. The numbers used in your blog, the amount spent and things like that, are shocking and make me realize that advertising really does have a huge effect on people, especially teens. We are so easily molded and affected by things like ads, and I do think that some ads should be regulated.

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  7. AnonymousOctober 4, 2013 at 9:41 AM

    Autumn-

    I think this is a very interesting and valid topic. It is really sad how girls especially around the world are effected so negatively and influenced so greatly by advertisement. It's amazing how the marketing industry effects our economic situation. Society relies to heavily on the marketing and advertising industry to convey their products. They are spending so much money on producing the newest, latest, and greatest commercials. Advertising shapes the way the public views society far too greater than it should.

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  8. AnonymousOctober 7, 2013 at 8:03 AM

    I never even thought of this as a huge problem but I was shocked to see the actual statistics. Although some people might feel that it’s the parent’s job to say no to their children, parents shouldn't have to worry about what products are marketed to their children, especially since it is easier to skew a child’s opinion.

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  9. AnonymousOctober 7, 2013 at 8:28 AM

    I haven't really thought of target advertising as a huge issue, with so many effect till now. But then again, I feel it shouldn't really be a huge issue if parents were more responsible in controlling their children. Advertising is a useful technique to boost sales, because like you said in your article, "$670 billion dollars in spending each year from influencing by their teens and children under the age of 12", can show how useful it is to make money, but it's equally the parents fault for not saying no to their child.

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  10. AnonymousOctober 20, 2013 at 7:23 AM

    I don't think that people should be able to target young children. When kids see something that is for them, and they really want it after seeing it, they will probably not stop begging their parents for that toy. They didn't want it before and don't want it after they have it. I think targeting children is messed up. And as for parents needing to control their kids, what 5 year old is going to understand that? They might say no but the kids will probably keep bugging them.

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