In the essay “Kid Kustomers” by Eric Schlosser, Schlosser discusses children advertising and its effectiveness. About twenty-five years ago, hardly any American company marketed towards children unlike today where the majority is directed towards children. According to an expert this era was known as “the decade of the child consumer.” Ad agencies implemented children into marketing in order to increase “consumption.” The Joe Camel ad campaign revealed how effortlessly children were impacted by ads, claiming it to be as well known as “Mickey Mouse.”
In Schlosser’s article, “Kid Kustomers” the main argument is that major ad agencies are focusing to much time advertising to children. He uses multiple topics and threads to portray the negative effects of marketing to children. Using the example of Fast Food industries partnering up with toy companies to appeal to the younger consumer and goes into the effects the children have on their parents as a consumer. Using the example of fast food Industries backs up his claim when marketing to children can be bad. Fast food companies are already unhealthy and when they paired up with big toy companies the influence on the child is even greater.
Eric Schlosser, the author of “Kid Kustomers”, puts a spotlight on the marketing on children. He starts off by talking about the effect on present day marketing. Companies like phone, oil, and automobile are targeting the children the most. He argues that kid-based companies weren’t that bad in the past, but now there are tons of companies who only focus on children. He has provided a lot of studies that support his explanation on marketing strategies.
I think that companies should not be permitted to market to children for many different reasons. One reason why i think that companies should not be allowed to market to children is because a lot of kids now have ipads, tablets or other electronics that they use to play games on or watch things. When kids are played games and something pops up on the screen most kids are going to click on it. Companies design ads to appeal to children so they are drawn to it. Once they click on it toys, snakes and other things are going to show and the kids are going to want what they see.
Kids can be taught that what’s on an ad isn’t necessarily what they need.” At the end, marketers must maintain an appropriate structure or strategy without using people in a bad way. If it’s possible for a child being obsessed with a toy and food box, then it’s possible for him to like a sweet fruit box with an interesting book or comics, magazines etc. if we can support or teach them. We must accept that healthy food, exercising, protecting environment, enjoying beautiful sides of life, even choosing the best music or watching the proper advertisement - they are the best solutions for a good future even though they may be hard for some people to adapt.
With the numerous technologies that are at hand today, children have multiple ways in which they can be exposed to the consistent onslaught of advertisements. In fact, in America “the average child watches an estimated 16,000 television commercials a year” (Watson 1), and “make approximately 3,000 requests for products and services each year” (Thomas 20). Marketing to children is a very controversial topic, and in recent years people have begun to realize the lasting effects that advertisements can leave. When a child sees a product in an advertisement, whether it is focused on healthy eating, career inspiration, or basically anything else, these lessons or aspirations end up irreversibly attached to the product shown. One writer states that
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, (Beder). The major recurring problem with marketing manipulation is that the children targeted, learn to fall into bad habits.
Commercials are causing problems financially and domestically. Limiting commercials will allow more time for show production raising the amount of viewing time for customers. The commercial industry should limit their commercial time for the better good of the company and the viewers. Since the child’s parents aren’t able to afford the product the child may feel the need to rebel until they get what their friends have. This may make the child feel insecure.
Companies are pushing kids to eat their food. Companies are targeting kids when they put ads up by changing their minds into making them think that they should eat this type of food. When companies push kids they also push their parents. When kids see and ad they instantly see what they want so they beg their parents. Kids are the number one priority parents will instantly take care of their kids.
The unique vulnerabilities of the children raise serious ethical questions about the marketers who exploit these vulnerabilities to make profits. At the heart of the debate is the infringement of the rights of the kids by the marketers. Immanuel Kant, the 17th Century German Philosopher, in his influential works, The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and The Critique of Practical Reason, has given us a philosophical frame work for evaluating the right and wrong. To set the standards high for evaluating whether advertising to kids is ethical or not, it will appropriate to apply the Kantian theory to examine the
Over the past twenty years, the amount at which advertisers are advertising to children is astonishing. Advertising directed towards children has estimated at over 15 million annually that’s almost three times more than what it was 26 years ago! Toy companies, fast food places, and retail stores are very eager to target children-maybe even a little too eager. Advertisers are consciously targeting children. Most advertisers are targeting children because they're easier to get hooked on a product.
A lot of companies find it morally acceptable to market their products to children. While this is an acceptable marketing strategy to some it is unacceptable to others. I do not believe companies should be able to market to children since it can cause children to start using tobacco, get addicted to junk food, and possibly start consuming alcohol. Companies should not be marketing to children because they are young and are not mature enough to make smart decisions. Addictions can start at a young age such as children getting addicted to food and possibly becoming overweight.
This demonstrates how critical the problem of childhood obesity is since such an amount of children should never have such a major nutritional problem such as obesity. Positive marketing is one tool we can use to our advantage in order to address this enormous problem. Positive advertising is not used by most businesses. Instead, in an effort to increase profits, they promote unhealthy eating. This is the reason why the majority of people believe that marketing to children is immoral, but in actuality, it's just the incorrect kind of marketing.
Any time you turn on your television it's inevitable that you are going to see advertisements. As an adult with a child it should be basic information that if you are allowing your kid to watch tv, they will be exposed to commercials advertising toys, food, and more. Advertising is definetly something that pursuades us to buy most of the things we have, but we can't blame the ads on television for us not being able to save and make mature purchasing decisions. I believe that banning advertisements targeting children would be ridiculous. I do realize the power of the ad on a young mind, though..
So they don’t have to focus on all the drama that is happening in the world. Some people might not think that because they can just block the people that start the drama in the first place and if they don’t block them they are just looking for drama to begin with. Whenever kids see bad ads it affects them mentally. They can have nightmares about the thing that they saw it could break them down they can also never talk again.
