Marketing to children - Essay Example

? Marketing to Children Marketing to Children For many years now, television advertising aimed at children has notbeen allowed in Swedish terrestrial television because of its perceived negative impact on children (Bjurstrom, 1994). Just recently, McDonald’s has been under attack for its seeming lack of responsibility in luring children into buying their “unhealthy” Happy Meals by offering it with toys (O'Brien, 2011). O’Brien states that McDonald’s has been accused of “deceptive marketing to children” (2011). Today, all over the world there are calls to totally ban all forms of advertising to children. There are many opposing views presented to support whether or not advertising to children should be eliminated. Advertisements that are unethical are those that do not involve getting the parents’ consent (Smith, 2010). Using cartoon characters in advertisements are intended specifically to target on children. These are the advertisements that can easily manipulate children. Smith identified four elements that can indicate that the advertisement is aimed at children are the music, images, voices and colors (2010). Most advertisements directed to children use special effects in presenting the products. These are the factors which usually captivate children and capture their attention. These special effects cloud the real idea and use of the products being advertised (Bjurstrom, 1994). What makes it even more unethical is if it is placed in publications read by children alone or advertised in children’s television shows or displayed where there are lots of children. Other advertisements directed to children that are unacceptable are those that make children think that they are inferior if they do not possess a wide range of new products. (Clay, 2000). These advertisements do not promote the right values to children, instead distorts their values and encourage materialism at an early age. Impulsive buying may be a long-run effect of these unethical advertisements. And since most brands being advertised are those that cost more, children become more drawn to the expensive stuff rather than to the reasonably-priced items which most of the time do not advertise (Business Mantra, 2010). One major concern why some parents are fighting for the ban of advertising is its negative effects on the eating habits of children. Since most products being advertised on television are mostly food items which are low in nutritional values and with a high content of sugar, salt and cholesterol, it negatively influences the food preferences of children. In defense of McDonald’s advertising to children, its CEO Jim Skinner asserted that they have the right to advertise freely and it is the parent’s responsibility to choose what their children eat; that is, the company serves “a balanced array of quality food products and provides the information to make individual choices” (O'Brien, 2011). This defense by McDonald’s is often the argument articulated by most companies to justify their advertising geared towards children. Their excuse is that it is the parents’ responsibility, not the advertisers or the companies who commissioned the advertisement. A problem posed in advertising to children is its tilting of the power balance principle of marketing (Smith, 2010). To be ethical, the advertisement must adhere to this principle which states that the scales should not favor either the consumer or the marketer. Directing the advertisement towards children who are very vulnerable means tilting the scale in the marketer’s favor, which is abusive and not fair. There are moral issues involved in advertising to children. First, children are very naive and trusting that advertising can influence them unduly (Bjurstrom, 1994). According to Bjurstrom, children lack the experience and the capacity to decipher the messages that they receive in advertisements; thus, may view it as exerting pressure on them to buy (1994). Children are at a stage called proximal development where they “simply take up elements of what they perceive in the world around them and then use it in various aspects of their lives”. (Smith, 2010). Exploiting this stage of children makes it unethical for marketers to deliver their messages at this specific point in the kids’ lives. Children are not able to determine the persuasion in advertising and obviously they do not have an idea on the intentions of the advertiser (McAlister & Cornwell, 2009). McAlister and Cornwell go on further to say that preschool children are not aware that there are biases when presenting products during advertisements (2009). They do not realize that the product qualities are enhanced during advertisements; thus, making it more attractive to them. Another ethical issue on advertising to children is the involvement of psychologists in advertising campaigns of companies. With the help of psychologists, who understands how a child minds work, firms are able to formulate advertisements that influence children and to those who can influence their choices (Smith, 2010). Smith goes on further to say that in response to the growing concern on the use of psychologist in developing marketing strategies, the American Psychological Association (APA) set up a committee to tackle this problem and further stressed that “no psychological principles should be used when marketing to children” (2010). In protest of the involvement of psychologists in advertisements geared to children, an appeal to psychologists was written by Commercial Alert, an advocacy organization in Washington D.C. (Clay, 2000). They urged them to “(1) issue a formal, public statement denouncing the use of psychological principles in marketing to children; (2) amend APA's Ethics Code to limit psychologists' use of their knowledge and skills to observe, study, mislead or exploit children for commercial purposes; and (3) launch an ongoing campaign to investigate the use of psychological research in marketing to children, publish an evaluation of the ethics of such use, and promote strategies to protect children against commercial exploitation by psychologists and others using psychological principles” (Clay, 2000). An alternative for advertisers who wants to sell their products to children is to advertise in parents’ magazines. It is more acceptable to do this because, in this way, the parents are involved in the marketing process and the decision to buy. Furthermore, the children are not manipulated to purchase the products. With advertising comes social responsibility. If each and every company is sensitive enough to practice high moral standards and has a strong sense of social responsibility especially to the youth, then advertising to children need not be an issue. However, the problem lies in the fact that not all companies have the sensibilities to do what is right. In this regard, one believes that advertising to children should not be permitted. As cited above, advertising to children has several adverse effects because they are too trusting and do not have a fully-developed consciousness of what is right and wrong for them. This being the scenario, it is believed that advertising to children should not be allowed. References Bjurstrom, E. (1994). Children and television advertising. Retrieved September 26, 2011, from alana.org.br Web site: http://www.alana.org.br/banco_arquivos/arquivos/docs/biblioteca/pesquisas/children_tv_ ads_bjurstrom.pdf Business Mantra. (2010, February 18). Effects of advertising on children. Retrieved September 27, 2011, from Business mantra Web site: http://www.businessmantra.net/effects-of- advertising-on-children.html Clay, R. (2000, September). Advertising to childrem: Is it ethical? American Psychological Association , 31 (8), p. 52. McAlister, A. R., & Cornwell, T. B. (2009, September 1). Pre-school children's persuasion knowledge: The contribution of theory of mind. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing , 175-185. O'Brien, G. (2011, May 31). Marketing to children: Accepting responsibility. Retrieved September 26, 2011, from Business Ethics Web site: http://business- ethics.com/2011/05/31/1441-marketing-to-children-accepting-responsibility/ Smith, C. (2010, February 23). Ethical issues when marketing to children. Retrieved September 27, 2011, from Articles base Web site: http://carolynsmith.articlesbase.com/advertising- articles/ethical-issues-when-marketing-to-children-1897536.html Read More