We’ve been discussing advertisement and its effect on children and through reading this article it really makes me wonder where advertisement will take the future generation. Every household owns a television and when parents don’t want to be bothered with their children they choose to preoccupy their children by putting them in front of the TV. I was amazed by how many commercials a child watches in one sitting.
It doesn’t help that times are changing, the things we were sheltered from when we were kids are now being casually thrown into any advertisement that a child may see. There is no limit to what a child may be exposed to. It’s as if everybody chooses to look away and not see what kind of culture we’re creating. We familiarize them with things they shouldn’t even have to think about for another decade.
Many advertising agencies see how it could be harmful for children but not enough care to take responsibility for the effect they may be having on them. I was surprised to learn that some countries ban advertisement to children until they turn a certain age because they see it as harmful to children. The fact that children don’t fully understand what an advertisement is makes them such an easy target, it’s as if they are being taken advantage of. There’s not limit to what they could want. In a way, they are being taught who they should be by being shown that it’ll make them cool and popular. Children have vulnerable minds that advertisement agencies jump to take advantage of.
