The influence of advertising and medias on children

Résumé du document

It has become obvious that advertising is designed to influence children. Advertising has an impact on their needs, their desire and their requests. How has it evolved in this way and what are the reasons of this interest for such a young audience? How can we define advertising? Advertising is an element of what we call the commercial communication. Different to marketing, which is defined as a strategy, advertising is a vehicle and a tool for sending a specific message to the target audience. Advertising is designed to inform about a product or service. To accomplish this goal, advertisers need to target the right people for the right product. They work on fulfilling conscious or unconscious needs that could arise in the minds of the consumers. According to the article 1 of the Television without Frontiers Directive, television shall not cause moral or physical detriment to minors, and shall therefore comply with the following criteria: a) it shall not directly exhort minors to buy a product or a service by exploiting their inexperience and credulity; b) it shall not directly encourage minors to persuade their parents or others to purchase the goods or services advertised; c) it shall not exploit the special trust minors place in parents, teachers or others persons; d) it shall not unreasonably show minors in dangerous situations.

Extraits

[...] The advertising around food broadcasted during children TV-shows are often promoting “junk food”. All the goods are extremely sweet and contain high doses of fat. Only of the ads for food are boasting healthy feeding. In France, the government has imposed since February 2007 to all announcers to mention the message "évitez de grignoter entre les repas" or "pour votre santé, évitez de manger trop gras, trop sucré, trop salé". When brands communication on food goods they have to tell to the TV-watchers that nibbling is not healthy or that people should avoid fattening, sugary, salty foods. [...]

[...] For announcers, it's a way of differentiating themselves for the competitors. Usually the present is related to an event such as a film release. You will be able to find Shrek's characters in Kellogg's or Mc Donald's boxes when a film or a DVD is launched Use cartoons Advertising designed in the form of a cartoon are particularly attracting in the eye of the youngest part of the target. They tell a story and are most of the time amusing kids. [...]

[...] Advertising is designed to inform on a product or service. To accomplish this goal, advertisers need to target the right people for the right product. They work on fulfilling conscious or unconscious needs that could arise in the mind of the consumers. According to the article 1 of the Television without Frontiers Directive, television shall not cause moral or physical detriment to minors, and shall therefore comply with the following criteria: a. it shall not directly exhort minors to buy a product or a service by exploiting their inexperience and credulity; b. [...]

[...] Numerous studies have been made to measure the impact of TV shows on children. It appears that they are more sensitive to the news than any other program. The more the children ages the more he is frightened by the events of real life. As they get older, children develop the ability of differentiating true life and fiction Sexuality The presence of sexuality in all the media has increased over the last decades. The positive point is that they are aware of what sex is and therefore some taboos within the family have disappeared. [...]

[...] For example, Sweden and Norway prohibit advertising that targets children. Some European countries don't allow children programs to be sponsored by brands. In several countries advertisement can not be aimed at children under the age of twelve, and it is forbidden to put on air a spot five minutes before or after children's shows. We will now study 4 different cases to see how differences can arise. Our analysis is based on the document : Action Consommation «Enfants et publicité - entre réglementation et autodiscipline». [...]