Essay Example on Advertising Kids' Products: Is It Safe?

Advertising is an excellent way of building product awareness and heightening sales of the same. Children's products are many a number in the various industries, and marketing them is essential for the good of the businesses. We see advertisements on these products every day on our screens. Is it safe for children to be consuming the material being broadcasted? I think there should be regulations on advertising to children because studies show that children spend more time on screens than they do playing outside. Seeing as this is the case, the content on our filters need to be controlled. Ideas passed onto children's minds via subliminal messages in some of these advertisements corrupt their minds and sequentially their values.

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As a result, Quebec Canada has banned fast food advertisements targeted at children to curb the risks of childhood obesity (Boyland & Harris, 2017). The 'success' of this ban clearly shows that what our children see influences their behavior in many ways. This ban has also observed that cartoon characters have many impacts on children. Puppets and persons or characters that are featured in children's programs are not used in the endorsement of the same products. The use of such characters affects the way the product will be used and its effect on children. It is all the more reason why there should be advertising regulations. I understand that children will often try to mimic what they see and will try to become like the characters and personalities they see on television (Bugge, 2016). These children do not realize that the cartoons and characters are barely fiction and objects of fantasy.

Conclusion

Finally, the endorsement of products by these characters thoroughly brainwash the minds of children. They believe that the use and or consumption of the said product will make them become more like the character (De Jans et al., 2019). Regulations on children's advertising will curb such occurrences and support the consumption of non-harmful material by the growing lot. While the children's targeted products continue to sprout daily, advertisement measures need to be put in place to ensure the right products are consumed.

References

Boyland, E. J., & Harris, J. L. (2017). Regulation of food marketing to children: are statutory or industry self-governed systems effective?. Public health nutrition, 20(5), 761-764. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28317493

Bugge, A. B. (2016). Food advertising towards children and young people in Norway. Appetite, 98, 12-18. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286342562_Food_Advertising_towards_Children_and_Young_People_in_Norway

De Jans, S., Van de Sompel, D., Hudders, L., & Cauberghe, V. (2019). Advertising targeting young children: an overview of 10 years of research (2006-2016). International Journal of Advertising, 38(2), 173-206. https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8543467