The consequences of advertisement on young people - Essay Example

The Consequences of Advertising on Young People The Consequences of Advertising on Young People The question as to whether advertising should be directed at children and young people is a hotly contested one due to a number of reasons. These include the universal presence of advertising, the nature of advertisements being emotionally charged brief bursts of information and the observed increased diversity and incidence of juvenile delinquency. The sensitivity and importance of the issue of advertising on young people thus calls for more inquiry into it and thus this study.

The guiding thesis to this study is that young people are easily influenced psychologically and, therefore, advertising can impact their behaviors negatively.Targeting of children as consumers of advertisements is ignoring the fact that they are not cognitively as developed as adults and thus, will not relate to the advertisements as adults do. There is sufficient evidence suggesting that the pre-adulthood brain is not fully developed, which translates into a situation where children cannot be trusted to make decisions and judgments in similar capacities as adults (Snead, 2007).

In this case, the influence of advertising on young people is significantly different from that of adults. Whereas an adult can be trusted not to undergo behavior change based on an advertisement, the same cannot be said of children.Examples in which the heightened influence of advertisement on children is visible are discernible. First, advertising alcohol to young people has been shown to bear a number of negative consequences. These include a significant link between exposure to alcohol advertising and onset of drinking among previously non-drinking young people; increased levels of alcohol consumption among youth drinkers; and lastly, evidence of a dose-relationship among young drinkers (Anderson, 2009).

The relationship between advertising and snacking also exemplifies the effects of advertising on young people. Harris, Bergh and Brownell (2009), argue that the prevalence of advertising of calorie-dense and low nutrient meals is significantly linked to obesity. Conditioned reflexes alongside the concept of manipulation of human behavior are at work in this case. Young people are more susceptible to these two and thus will most likely snack on available foods when they watch such advertisements.

Another aspect from which advertisements bears capacity to influence youth behavior more than adult’s is in the way advertisements are designed. Massey (2006) argues that vigor, immaturity and impetuousness characterize youth; traits which advertisers are well aware of and seek to exploit. Advertisers take advantage of such inherences among the youth through integrating computer technology, graphic art, business and communication to influence youth behavior.In conclusion, it is discernible that the reception and reaction to advertising of young people is different from that of adults due to cognitive abilities.

Hence, advertisers design their messages in a bid to take advantage of youth traits such as impetuousness. They influence youth behavior and have negative consequences, as can be exemplified by alcohol consumption and snacking. Thus, the view that young people are easily influenced psychologically and, therefore, advertising can impact their behaviors negatively is upheld.ReferencesAnderson, P. (2009). Is it time to ban alcohol advertising? Clinical Medicine, 9:121-124.Harris, J. L., Bargh, J. A., & Brownell, K. D. (2009).

Priming effects of television food advertising on eating behavior. Health Psychology, 28(4): 404–413.Massey, J. (2006). The impact of advertising on teenagers. PP, Philadelphia.Snead, O. C. (2007). Neuro-imaging and the “complexity” of capital punishment. N.Y.U. L. REV. 82, 1265-1273.