Should advertising be banned on television programs targeted for children under age 10?

            Media, these days, has become so advanced that there is no sense of age related constrictions on content shown on television. TV shows and programs need advertisements to run. When the intended audience is children, the issue of linkage between mental frailty of children and the sensitivity of content being shown arises. Children’s minds are too frail and naïve to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy content shown in the advertisements. The focus of this article is on that advertising should be banned on television programs targeted for children under age 10.

            Advertisements are to be blamed in mutating the minds of youngsters from purity to incorruptibility. Today, kids are learning about their society through media, and due to the adult content shown in advertisements, like sex and violence, they are adopting that specific kind of perception, and are beginning to show predisposition themselves as they are growing up. For example, trailers of movies with romantic scenes amidst a kids’ show arises awareness of sex and romance among very young children. Children tend to have less-developed ability of decision-making or critical thinking, so they cannot realize what is wrong with what they are viewing, and their minds learn or absorb every act they see.

            Another problem in the advertising field is the use of exaggerated statements and images. Even if the advertisements are related to advertising kid related products to children, yet they are such overstated that children’s minds get manipulated. Despite Federal Trade Commission’s laws against exaggerated advertising to children, the truth is that children by no means stay away from being affected by exaggerated statements in advertisements. This leads to having kids who will buy anything and everything they are being shown in the media, without regard to the usage and benefit of the bought product. For example, when an advertisement says: “XYZ Fried Chicken, the tastiest and healthiest meal you ever ate!”, it means a lot for children as they are going to believe that the junk food is the healthiest food in the world.

            Advertising agencies have started exploiting kids to make them their unsurpassed consumers. American businesses are now targeting children because they form a huge part of American population today. Kids spend or make their parents spend a lot of money on things like video games, junk food, electronic items, and the like, and thus, this spent money forms are great part of the country’s economy. Advertisers and businesses know this fact, and thus, they target the child population or kids television shows and programs, because children have an influence over purchasing and making decisions in all small and big shopping. For example, children are attracted toward buying new brands of cereals, clothes, bedspreads, kids’ furniture, school bags and lunch boxes. Marketers understand this psychology of children, and control them through targeting their television viewing.

            In short, advertising is harmful when it targets television programs for children under 10, because children’s minds are too frail to reject viewing content not meant for them, like sexually suggestive content; they are not able to understand the intentions behind exaggerated sentences and images; and, they get manipulated by the advertising agencies that use kids’ psyche just for their own purposes. Hence, advertising should be banned on television programs targeted for children under age 10.