Children and advertising...

The main focus of advertising is to influence consumers’ perceptions of the brand, but it is suggested advertising can also influence children’s perceptions of themselves (Gunter, Oates and Blades, 2005; and Marshall, 2010). Marketers use role models and attractive lifestyles within their adverts to influence children to buy their products (Gunter et al, 2005). Within the seminar the issue of adverts producing ‘demeaning stereotypes’ was discussed, these stereotypes, which are often used in advertisements, can be harmful. They can result in children developing negative perceptions of themselves, resulting in the idea that they must conform to the ideals of society (Gunter et al, 2005).

Children are being increasingly influenced by commercialism and the development of consumer culture and technology has led to children encountering advertisements more often, at a much younger age (Marshall, 2010). Marketers’ now have an increased interest in children as consumers, mostly due to them having purchasing power and influence products for themselves (Ekström, 2010; and Gunter et al, 2005). So perhaps children should be viewed as consumers. In contrast, it can be argued that advertising has little effect on children, instead social fashions and peer pressure may be the most important factors in creating the desire to buy products (Proctor and Richards, 2002; and Gunter et al, 2005). Advertisements aimed at children generally use popular characters from children’s programs. As a result, it may be difficult for children to distinguish between advertisements and programs and therefore children do not understand that what they are watching is attempting to persuade them to buy products. Instead, they may be subconscious consumers (Gunter et al, 2005).

Children are thought to be particularly vulnerable to advertising as they know less about marketers’ intent compared to the understanding developed by adulthood (Oates, Blades, Gunter and Don, 2003; and Gunter et al, 2005). Bowen (2000) contradicts this, claiming that very young children, even from the age of three, have some understanding of particular aspects of marketing. Nevertheless, children’s recognition of advertisements is not the same as understanding their persuasive purpose (Gunter et al, 2005). The age of understanding has been debated, but it is clear it may be possible to develop understanding sooner when supported by explicit teaching in the primary years (Gunter et al, 2005). Some researchers suggest the most effective way to help children understand advertising is through their parents (Furnham, 2000). Though, relying on parents alone can be limited. Not all parents may have the appropriate knowledge to teach children and assess their levels of understanding (Gunter et al, 2005). Another way to increase children’s understanding is through school education; encouraging children to learn the nature of marketing. Teachers will have to take into account the ideas discussed previously when teaching. An issue with the curriculum means that time spent on topics such as advertising may be limited so teachers will also have to take this into account when planning and perhaps teach advertising alongside other areas, such as persuasive texts (Gunter et al, 2005; Burrell and Beard, 2010; and DfE, 2013).

Bibliography:

Bowen, M. (2000), ‘Kids Culture’, International Journal of Advertising and Marketing to Children. 2 (1) pp 19-23.

Burrell, A. and Beard, R. (2010). Children's advertisement writing. Literacy. 44 (2) pp 83 - 90.

DfE. (2013) The National Curriculum. In Scholastic (Ed.) The National Curriculum in England: Handbook for Primary Teachers Key stages 1 & 2. Oxfordshire. Scholastic.

Ekström, K. (2010) Consumer Socialization in Families. In: Marshall, D (ed.) Understanding Children as Consumers. London: SAGE Publications.

Furnham, A. (2000): Children and Advertising: The Allegations and the Evidence: Social Affairs Unit.

Gunter, B. Oates, C. and Blades, M. (2005). Advertising to Children on TV.  New Jersey: Laurence Erlbaum Associates.

Marshall, D (2010) Understanding Children as Consumers. London: SAGE Publications.

Oates, C., Blades, M., Gunter, B., and Don, J. (2003) ‘Childrens Understanding of Television advertising: a Qualitative Approach’, Journal of Marketing Communications. 9 (2) pp 59-71.

Proctor, J. and Richards, M. (2002) ‘Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Beyond Pester Power’, International Journal of Advertising and Marketing to Children, 3 (3) pp 3-12.

Here is a useful website, which I came across when researching this blog task. It has free teaching resources to help children think critically about advertising in the primary classroom:

http://www.mediasmart.org.uk/