Child Consumerism
A Life of Advertising
Dear Editor,
Children have become their own category of consumers. According to Kids Health, a child takes in an average of 40,000 television advertisements a year and about 3,000 general ads a day, and on average there are eighteen minutes of commercials per hour of television (Kids Health). With advertisements and images coming from all mediums and being constantly projected in front of children’s faces, it is bound to have an impact on them. This impact is mental, physical, short term and long term. Today, because advertisements seem so appealing and are so regular, they are becoming a large part of a child’s everyday life and are creating an image of what the youth should be, affecting their identities, as well as altering the basic nature of children. Television is playing a major role to create a materialistic generation and parents need to redirect their children from the path they are being led down by marketers.
These marketers have begun to target children, and part of what marketers do is study children and their interactions, like lab rats. Through these studies marketers have recognized the buying power that children have developed. According to Global Issues, businesses spent $15 to $17 billion dollars on advertisements directed at children up to the age of eleven. These kids are being targeted and 80 percent of businesses have a strategy that is directed at this age group. Children’s personal buying power has not only grown but also their influence on what their parents buy them. It is no longer the simple things like a baseball glove that children desire but it’s ipods, cell phones, and x-boxes which are much more expensive things to buy. Global Issues also said that between kids and teens parents were pressured to spend up to $670 billion dollars. These numbers are expected to grow as prices rise and more media is being directed at children.
The media will continue to affect our society forever and we can’t
Dear Editor,
Children have become their own category of consumers. According to Kids Health, a child takes in an average of 40,000 television advertisements a year and about 3,000 general ads a day, and on average there are eighteen minutes of commercials per hour of television (Kids Health). With advertisements and images coming from all mediums and being constantly projected in front of children’s faces, it is bound to have an impact on them. This impact is mental, physical, short term and long term. Today, because advertisements seem so appealing and are so regular, they are becoming a large part of a child’s everyday life and are creating an image of what the youth should be, affecting their identities, as well as altering the basic nature of children. Television is playing a major role to create a materialistic generation and parents need to redirect their children from the path they are being led down by marketers.
These marketers have begun to target children, and part of what marketers do is study children and their interactions, like lab rats. Through these studies marketers have recognized the buying power that children have developed. According to Global Issues, businesses spent $15 to $17 billion dollars on advertisements directed at children up to the age of eleven. These kids are being targeted and 80 percent of businesses have a strategy that is directed at this age group. Children’s personal buying power has not only grown but also their influence on what their parents buy them. It is no longer the simple things like a baseball glove that children desire but it’s ipods, cell phones, and x-boxes which are much more expensive things to buy. Global Issues also said that between kids and teens parents were pressured to spend up to $670 billion dollars. These numbers are expected to grow as prices rise and more media is being directed at children.
The media will continue to affect our society forever and we can’t
Cited: Consuming Kids. Dir. Adriana Barbaro and Jeremy Earp. DVD. Media Education Foundation, 2008. Premier. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. <http://http://proxy.foley.gonzaga.edu:2048/login?url=http:// Web. 20 Nov. 2009. <http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html#>.