7/18/2019 The Tricky Business of Advertising to Children

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The tricky business of advertising to childrenAs Subway launches a multi-million-dollar healthy eating ad campaign aimed at kids, ismarketing to children harmful or a useful tool for teaching critical analysis?

In the US the average child watches around 16,000 television adverts per year.

In the US, the average child watches an estiated 16,000 television coercials a year. !nd, while USchildren are aong the world"s ost avid consuers of advertising, the effect of television on children is aconcern for parents across the globe.

#ritics of advertising clai that it contributes to a host of ills, fro childhood obesity and poor ipulsecontrol to precocious se$uality. %roponents say advertising can be a useful tool for teaching children aboutcritical analysis.

&ecently, the battle for the hearts and inds of !erica"s children opened a new front' their stoachs.!llying itself with (ichelle )baa"s capaign against childhood obesity, fast*food copany Subway hasagreed to spend +1 over three years to proote a healthy*eating progra aied at children.

The advertising capaign, with the slogan -%laytie' %owered by eggies-, represents Subway"s ostaggressive child arketing attept to date. /y coparison, the copany spent +. on child arketing in011 and + in 01. The sae year, (c2onald"s spent an estiated + on ad buys for its 3appy(eals.

Subway"s capaign offers a fresh angle on an old issue, naely the 4uestion of whether or not it is ethical

for corporations to directly arket to children. In soe ways, the restaurant is a perfect test case5 while thenutritional profile of Subway"s offerings is far fro perfect, it is one of the healthier options in the large*chain fast*food arket. !nd, by presenting an aggressively arketed alternative to (c2onald"s, Subway issuggesting an eney*of*y*eney*is*y*friend strategy that could create soe strange bedfellows in thewar against childhood obesity.

)n the other hand, regardless of the healthiness of Subway"s offerings, they are still being directly arketedto children, a strategy any parents consider probleatic. Susan inn, director of the #apaign for a#oercial*7ree #hildhood, 4uestions the very nature of child arketing.

-There"s no oral, ethical, or social 8ustification for arketing any product to children,- she says.

-!dvertising healthier foods to children is probleatic. 9e want children to develop a healthy relationshipto nutrition and to the foods that they consue. !dvertising trains kids to choose foods based on celebrity,not based on what"s on the package.-

7/18/2019 The Tricky Business of Advertising to Children

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Ian /arber, counications director of the U:"s !dvertising !ssociation, suggests that the child arketingfurore ay ultiately be a atter of displaceent5 parents who are concerned about certain products ay

 becoe angry or upset when they are arketed to children, and ay blae the ediu for the essage.

-!dvertising becoes a pro$y for coplaints about particular copanies, brands or products,- he argues.-!dvertising isn"t the issue. The sort of advertiseents that children see is the issue. /ut then you get into avery ob8ective debate about how people feel about certain brands or services.-

inn disagrees. -!dvertising, in and of itself, is harful to children,- she argues. -(arketing targetseotions, not intellect. It trains children to choose products not for the actual value of the product, but

 because of celebrity or what"s on the package. It underines critical thinking and prootes ipulse buying.-

9hen it coes to legal restrictions on child advertising, the U: occupies a spot soewhere near the iddleof the spectru. !t one e$tree, Sweden, ;orway and <uebec copletely bar arketing to children underthe age of 1. !t the opposite end are countries such as the US, where the arketing industry is self*regulated, with few legal restrictions on the aterial that advertisers can broadcast to children.

In /ritain, the advertising industry self*regulates, within the bounds of certain national and international

laws that liit the products and techni4ues that it is allowed to eploy. -7or e$aple, you cannot ake achild feel inferior or unpopular for not buying a product,- /arbour e$plains. -=ou can"t take advantage oftheir credulity, or suggest that they"re lacking in courage or loyalty. =ou can"t encourage the to actively

 pester their parents, or ake a direct e$hortation to a child to buy a product.- Soe of these rules, heephasises, are based in laws, but any are self*iposed by the advertising industry.

7or consuers in countries where advertising is less strictly regulated, the U:"s advertising standards aysee alost genteel. Then again, /arber clais, the /ritish advertising industry has e$perienced fewcoplaints fro parents. -The proportion of coplaints about ads that relate to concerns about children isinuscule,- he says. -In fact, the all*tie nuber*one coplained about ad in the U: was for :entucky7ried #hicken, and the reason was that people in the coercial were speaking with their ouths full.-

!nother approach for aeliorating the effect of child advertising ay lie in teaching children how tounderstand the edia essages that constantly barrage the. (edia Sart, an organisation funded by/arber"s advertising lobby, approaches the issue of child arketing fro the perspective of education.-(edia Sart helps kids better understand what advertising is, how advertising works, what its intentionsare, and how to be critical of it,- /arbour e$plains. -Seeking to shield children copletely fro advertisingdoesn"t see like a pragatic or helpful response to any concerns that you ight have. )ur approach is toake sure the advertising targeted to kids is appropriate, and help kids to understand what advertising does.-

7ro this perspective, advertising can be a useful tool for teaching children to be cynical and carefulconsuers of cultural essages. Then again, as the advertising lobby"s own research >%27? has shown,

children are not capable of understanding the -coercial intent- of advertising until they reach the age of1.

inn 4uestions the value of edia literacy training. -I agree that it"s iportant to teach children criticalthinking skills,- she says. -/ut to depend on children to protect theselves fro advertising is either na@veor disingenuous.- (ore to the point, she argues, it"s unclear that edia literacy can influence consuer

 behaviour. -There"s research showing that edia literacy can inculcate scepticis, but there"s no link between scepticis and consuer behaviour.-

Ultiately, inn notes, -there"s no evidence that advertising is beneficial-. (ore to the point, she argues, iterodes children"s creative play. -That"s the foundation of learning creativity and constructive problesolving, both of which are essential to a deocratic society.- In other words, inn suggests, for all its

 benefits, Subway"s better nutrition capaign ay be yet another tool for eating away at the core values ofsociety