Words: 1035
Children wait over and over just to see their favorite commercial. Then they become demanding once they are being shown a new item that they feel they must have. It becomes frenzy for children as they keep seeing advertisements for something new that they must have and then insists to parents that it is a must that they get this item. In some instances it could be dangerous to the child’s well-being and for their health. Targeting children by using advertisements is wrong especially when it can cause health issues. I believe that when advertisers arget children on television, it negatively affects their health and it is unethical.
Big companies are usually the companies that are unhealthy and spend a lot of money on advertisings especially for children. It starts at a young age, maybe 2 years old, sitting in front of the television watching your favorite cartoon and all of a sudden, it’s commercial time! McDonald’s showing off the good old”Happy Meal” with a toy that you must have. You start pestering your parents that you need to have McDonald’s for dinner and want the green toy. A few days later, you see the same ommercial butyou see they have your toy in other colors.
All you are thinking of now is going every night for dinner at McDonald’s and getting every color toy. You must have them all! Your parents don’t want to hear you cry, so they bring you there and sure enough you end up getting the toy in every color. The toy ends up not being the greatest toy like it looked like on TV. The commercial makes the toy looked so amazing, way more than it actually is. The advertisement worked and it works everyday to young children. The problem here is these children are innocent victims and they re being subjected to unhealthy food. lf we can get parents and the food chains to create healthier eating habits to instill in young children at an earlier age, it will definitely impact their eating habits for life,” said Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-Queens). Since the happy meals are unhealthy it is negatively affecting the children because all the children want is the toy and their health is what is second in priority. They are the easiest targets for the marketing world because they do not look at the side-effects of their decision most arents will just buy whatever the child wants to stop the pestering.
Meanwhile,the fast food chains are luring in the children with toys, fun food, free balloons or anything they can think of. The saga continues as children grow and when they become teenagers, it becomes quite expensive. Now the items that are wanted after seeing them on a great commercial are not happy meal toys. The items are more expensive like cell phones, designer clothing, or anything else that catches the eye. The automobile industry uses commercial advertisements showing cars and elling us why we should buy them while the car on the commercial is more expensive than the advertisement is saying.
The car cost is actually for a model with no extras. However, the car they show on the commercial is fully loaded and looks so good, you want it! So, what happened here is the commercial makes you go to the dealer and inquire about the car and find out the cost of the car you saw on television is way more expensive. If the advertisement on TV works, you will becoming home spending more money than you wanted. the fast-food industry hire the best marketers that now the best ways to grab the children’s attention.
We are seeing a continuous pattern now with fast food companies how they are including on their menu some healthy items, like sliced apples and low fat milk. This is very smart but do you see the commercial advertising sliced apples or Big Macs? This is a big problem when the fast food that is being consumed is causing obesity. The obesity rate in the United States has been growing and there are more children in danger health wise. A main problem is that these big companies are advertising to the children and they are showing unhealthy products.
Research has shown children are more likely to choose those foods with familiar logos and that is concerning because the majority of foods marketed to children are unhealthy, calorificallydense foods high in sugars, fat and AmandaBruce). This shows how well the advertisements are working and why this is dangerous for children to be watching these commercials. Between 1986 and 2000, obesity quadrupled from one in two hundred Americans to one in fifty (Patrick Driscoll). From this period of time, companies have dramatically increased the amount of money they invest on TV advertisements.
The problem is that unethical companies are targeting the children because they are an easy target and they can be customers their whole life. As a business person’s point of view, they feel they want to sell their product anyway they can. There is a lot of competition between brands and so many new marketable items. For example, a bag Of chips, may it be Lays Potato Chips, Doritos, or Cheetos….. these are marketable items and the companies that own them want the best commercial to be made. And what makes a great commercial? Anything they use as long as it sells!
So, when hey need a commercial idea, they know who will want the product more than anyone in the household, kids! So they gear the commercial once again toward children. This is their job to do and they feel if the child should not have the product, let the parents be parents and say “no”. The advertising market is a business, their job is to sell the product. They are not concerned of the well being of the children. They were hired to sell the product and have an impressive commercial. Proponents often argue that the children have to get used advertisements so they can manage them in the future.