Children and Advertising

Advertising is particularly relevant at present as a consumer culture is at the forefront of society. Advertising can be described as a conveyed message about a brand or product which encourages and influences the consumer to purchase (Kenway & Bullen, 2003). Whether children should be considered consumers in particularly questionable as it could be suggested that children are being exploited by different Medias (such as the television), in a ploy to encourage children to engage in watching adverts and therefore purchasing products and brands (Gunter et al, 2005). This view is agreeable as although children have access to money, they are still at the age of not being able to recognise ploys used by advertising companies.

As adults, it is increasingly likely that many will fall for advertising strategies such as, promises of improvement and the created need/want for items that were not desirable before. This leads to question the likelihood of a child becoming increasingly effected by subliminal messages and therefore impacting on their self-image (Gunter et al, 2005). This is particularly relevant to the classroom and links closely to popular culture and what children find valuable.

From carrying out an activity which involved the use of advertisements within the classroom, it appears that children require the skills to be able to identify advertising strategies in order to become aware of the realistic view of the products that are being advertised to them. Although when carrying out this activity it seemed humorous, the extreme exaggeration that is used within advertising was demonstrated, which would make the activity particularly beneficial to children. Gunter et al. (2005) identifies that there is very little control over advertisement companies, meaning that children should be prepared for messages that will encourage them to buy and to learn to be aware of the value of money.  This leads to question the responsibility of teaching children advertising. It can be seen as crucial for children to learn about advertisement, not only for the preparation of entering a consumer culture but due to the complex writing skills advertising presents in terms of persuasive writing (Burrell & Beard, 2010). Burrell & Beard (2010), further this point by identifying how children should be aware of the power of language. This view has also been put forward in the most recent National Curriculum (DfE, 2013), which identifies the importance of powerful vocabulary, which is vital in advertisement. The document also makes frequent reference to culture and society. This suggests that the responsibility of teaching children advertising should therefore lay within education and schooling and should be demonstrated by the teacher, requiring the teacher to have an deep understanding into advertisement and the effects of language themselves. Despite this view, Gunter et al. (2005) does state that, whilst at home, parents should be encouraged to take an active role in reducing and monitoring what their child is exposed to.

 

Burrell, A., & Beard, R. (2010). Children's advertisement writing. Literacy, 44(2), 83-90

Gunter, B., Oates, C., & Blades, M. (2004). Advertising to children on TV: Content, impact, and regulation. Routledge.

Kenway, J., & Bullen, J. (2003). Consuming children: Education-entertainment-advertising. British Educational Research Journal, 29(2), 267-276.

Department for Education, (2013) Primary National Curriculum. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum   [Accessed 11/02/2014]