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Advertising, Marketing and Children

If you have children, you have experienced the "advertising and marketing season." Daily you and your children are bombarded with overt and covert messages that try to convince both of you that no one can live without this object or that toy. How are you holding up so far? You do realize the worst is yet to come.

Holiday Seasons are not the only time advertising and marketing have such a strong influence on families. As you probably know, all media have an underlining economic purpose. One way to think about this - television programs exist solely to get viewers to watch the commercials.

Television commercials are only one example of the 3,000 advertisements that you are exposed to on a daily basis. Media need advertisers to pay the bills. To fully understand media, you need to look at the business of advertising. Since you have so many opportunities in the next month or so, now is the time you can teach your children to explore advertising and marketing techniques. PBSKids offered the following guidelines:

Question the Commercial

Here is a Question the Commercial Guide (found on www.pbskids.org) that may provoke discussion about commercials the next time you watch TV with your child.

• What sound effects or music does the commercial use? Do the sounds make it more exciting?
• How do the actors using the product look? Do you think the product could make you happy or popular?
• Are there celebrities in the commercial? Do you think the celebrity really uses the product?
• When watching a toy commercial, is the toy pictured in a group with other toys that are all sold separately?

Tricks of the Trade

Advertisers use many different tricks to introduce you to their product. Play advertising detective with your kids the next time you watch TV and look for some of the following techniques used by marketers:

• Celebrities: Do you spot any celebrities promoting a product in a commercial? Ask your child if she or he thinks the celebrity gets paid to sell this product.
• Product Placement: These are products that appear in a television program. If you can see the name of the product, it is likely that the company is paying for this product to appear on the program. Since these products are being "used" in the television program, sometimes they are harder to think of as ads.
• Emotions: Marketers often play on emotions to sell a product. It may be a Nike commercial that tries to convey excitement, or a Hallmark commercial that evokes sentimental feelings.
• Cross Marketing: Products that are linked with television shows and movies. The program that you watch on TV may be more like a half-hour commercial for the products.

Ad Outing

Look beyond the television for advertisements in the real world. Take a pen and paper and go on an outing with your child. Make a list of all the different advertisements you see, such as billboards, logos, advertising on cars, in bus shelters, etc. Talk about the companies behind these advertisements and what they are trying to sell.

Take Time to Process

Once your children have an opportunity to discuss the different ways the media "hook" consumers, take time to help them process this information.

• How does all this advertising and marketing affect their lives?
• How many purchasing decisions are being made because of what they have seen in the media?
• What purchases are no longer interesting to them?
• How can they make smarter purchasing decisions?

Additional Information

Media Awareness Network
http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/
A Canadian Web site that promotes and supports media education. This site helps parents deal with the media influences in their children's lives. You'll find tips for talking with your children about media values and culture, information on media industries, and ideas for taking action in your school and community.

National Institute on Media and the Family
http://www.mediafamily.org
This organization is for parents and educators who are interested in the influence of media on children. Resources include media awareness programs as well as movie, television, and video game content ratings. You'll also find helpful hints for parents and families to evaluate use of media.

Undeniably, everyone enjoys getting new things. The purpose of this PARENTALK segment is not to discourage holiday traditions. It is our hope that you see teachable.

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