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Is Advertising Harming Our Children? Investigating the Damaging Impact and Effect

  • Writer: Jelita Riharso
    Jelita Riharso
  • Mar 28, 2024
  • 5 min read

(Source: Raisingchildren.net.au, 2022)

 

In today’s hyper-connected world, advertising has permeated every aspect of our lives, targeting a wide range of audiences. As digital media has been embedded as a daily part of children’s lives, they are exposed to numerous media products, especially advertisements (Green, 2021). Furthermore, as consumers become more passive in regards to receiving advertisement messages (Shin & Lwin, 2019), research has shown that children are more likely to be influenced by numerous advertisements daily (De Jans et al., 2019). Children, with their impressionable minds and developing cognitive abilities, are intriguingly receptive to the persuasive tactics delivered by advertisers. While advertising can have its advantage in entertaining and informing, it often takes on a more insidious role when targeted at children. Therefore, this essay argues that advertising is evidently detrimental to children, primarily due to its exploitative nature, promotion of unhealthy products, and negative impact on psychological well-being through materialism. 


Although limited, several studies have shown the positive effects of advertising on children. According to Kunkel and Roberts (1991), advertisements can encourage positive traits such as independence and pride. In a study conducted by Opree et al. (2016), it was found that advertisements did not jeopardise the relationship between children and their parents, as it was the predominant assumption that children would attach themselves more towards valued possessions than to their loved ones due to advertisements (Chaplin & John, 2007). A feasible explanation for this finding is that while advertisements can result in more attachment towards tangible objects promoted, this does not necessarily mean they value less of their family. This strong connection between children and their families is called attachment security and is prone to long-term stability (Solomon & George, 1999). Therefore, it is evident that advertisements do not have adverse effects towards children’s relationships. However, a further literature review must be conducted to conclude whether advertising has positive overall implications in children’s lives.


Through the types of advertisements presented in modern media, advertisements negatively impact children via exploitation through manipulations and data privacy threats. As promotional messages are no longer transparent and identifiable from concrete sources (Shin & Lwin, 2019), covert and new forms of advertising often blur the lines between commercial and non-commercial content (Green, 2021). Since these advertisements can be blurred by user-generated content and product placements (Taylor, 2017), teenagers and children are the vital targets of advertisers. This is because most children are not pre-equipped with cognitive and critical thinking skills (Shin & Lwin, 2019) and, thus, are more likely to be affected by manipulative advertisement techniques. Not only that, young children are now targeted through location-based, online tracking, and behavioural targeting. In a study by Zarouali et al. (2017), retargeted Facebook advertisements lead to a more significant purchase intention among adolescents than non-targeted advertisements. This shows how the utilisation of children’s personal data can create more successful advertisements because it can attract younger consumers. As mentioned before, children are still cognitively developing (Rozendaal et al., 2011; Naderer, 2021), thus making them more prone to publicly giving confidential information via online applications. As noted by Wang et al. (2015), many advertisers that use location-based advertising attain substantial personal information from users without giving evident and clear explanations on how the data would be utilised. An example is the Minecraft mobile application, which targeted children to interact with the game but requested access to the players’ storage, complete network connections to other players, and contacts. Consequently, it is evident that advertising adversely affects children through cognitive manipulation and data privacy risk. 


Advertising also impacted children adversely through the promotion of unhealthy products. Research has indicated that a wide range of marketing strategies have been linked with increased consumption of unhealthy food products (Naderer, 2021), and children are especially vulnerable to these promotional strategies and strongly react to them due to their lack of inhibitory control. As the clear boundaries between commercial and non-commercial content are often blurry (Green, 2021), advertisers often connect unhealthy food products with popular characters that children know from their favourite television shows or movies (Matthes & Naderer, 2015; Naderer, 2019). For instance, in the M&M’s advertisements, characters from ‘The Smurfs’ literally fall in love with the candy (Naderer, 2018), and the character chipmunks from ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ enthusiastically sing a song about UTZ cheeseballs as their favourite snack (Matthes & Naderer, 2015). Thus, food advertisements targeting children often follow a structure which involves adventure, fun, and famous characters to attract consumers. However, research has shown that the persuasive style and sheer quantity of unhealthy beverages and food representations in advertising and media content aimed at children have been responsible for the increasing child obesity numer (Naderer, 2021). Furthermore, substantial studies have shown a positive correlation between children’s exposure to alcohol, tobacco, and fast food advertisements and their positive attitudes toward product consumption (Lapierre et al., 2017; Wilcox et al., 2004). It was found that exposure to alcohol advertising increases the likelihood of alcohol consumption among adolescents, which is concerning since early consumption of alcohol leads to alcohol dependence in the future (Hingson et al., 2006). Consequently, it is clear that advertisements increase unfavourable behaviour in children in the form of unhealthy diets and destructive consumption habits. 


When these adverse marketing strategies are applied to self-esteem, advertising has been shown to encourage materialism, which affects children’s psychological well-being. According to Pollay and Gallagher (1990), advertising is evident to promote materialism by displaying objects and goods to generate dissatisfaction by idolising “the good life”. In addition, a greater-scale literature review by Buijzen and Valkenburg (2003) asserts that exposure to multiple advertising encourages materialistic traits in adolescents. This is dangerous for children, especially those with deprived backgrounds (Opree et al., 2016) since materialism leads them to believe that their current life conditions are not good enough (Nairn & Opree, 2021). Thus, children may experience a weakening of vital social relationships, reinforcing the feeling of low self-worth. Furthermore, from the lens of social comparison, as advertisements often portray an exciting world with a plethora of luxury goods (Pollay, 1986), this could create a discrepancy between children’s surroundings and the ‘ideal world’, thus leading to disappointment (Bujizen & Valkenburg, 2003). An example of this is the Smiggle advertisements. These advertisements often utilise a narrative that reflects how owning Smiggle products can make children feel popular and desirable in a social group. While it highlights the positive influence of owning a Smiggle item, children can be placed in a position of dissatisfaction because of peer expectations. Additionally, lower self-esteem is strongly associated with higher levels of materialism (Cohen & Cohen, 2013; Ahuvia & Wong, 2002; Kasser & Kanner, 2004). In children's advertising, the appeals of physical attractiveness and athletic ability imply that one needs particular products to be accepted (Bujizen & Valkenburg, 2003). This is reflected in products like Milo, whose advertisements may depict children as extraordinarily successful or talented in sports due to consuming the drink. This can create high, unrealistic expectations for children, making them feel insufficient if they do not excel similarly. Consequently, it is evident that advertisements have a wide range of adverse effects on children, especially in the context of their psychological well-being. 


In conclusion, advertising aimed at adolescents is downright harmful, primarily due to its exploitative nature, promotion of unhealthy products, and negative impact on psychological well-being. It has taken advantage of the cognitive vulnerabilities of children, pressurising unhealthy dietary choices and encouraging materialism and unrealistic standards. Consequently, responsible advertising practices and parental regulations are crucial to protecting the well-being of the young generation.



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