▶ Your Answer :
Some people believe
that Television advertising directed toward children under the age of five is
fine. They believe even though advertising contains negative contents, parents can guide
their children into right direction.
However, even if parents can allow them to do so, I don't think
advertising targeting young children should be allowed for following two
reasons: First, children are easily affected by the media and second, it is
likely to lead unnecessary consumption.
First of all, young children can easily be influenced by
advertising contents because they are not mature enough to differentiate
whether the content is good or bad. Especially children under the age of five
are at very crucial stage that can absolve almost everything they see and hear
without any judgement. For instance, my niece Jin was used to be allowed watch television when he was four years old. Since his parents were too busy doing their work,
Jin was easily exposed to the condition that he can see a commercial without
parent's permission. One day, he watched advertising describing repelling the
enemy with laser toy gun, and he soon got fascinated by the scene. After a
while, he started acting like hero to his parents by poking or heating them with any tool he
can grab. My aunt and his wife ended up having hard time fixing Jin's bad
habit. As this example illustrates, advertising towards young children can have
huge impact in a negative way.
On
top of that, watching advertising at early age may lead unnecessary purchase for
their parents. Since advertising have strong visual or sound effect, it is
likely to attract children easily and make them want to buy something.
According the research done by Michigan University in 2007, two groups were compared,
One group was consisted of parents who have children never seen advertising
before, and parents on the other group have children had watched advertising
more than one hour a day. The result was amazing. While parents of group A
barely spent money on unnecessary toys, the group B used more money for toys than
others by 40%. This research shows that children who watch advertising often
result in unnecessary consumption.
To
sum up, advertising has a great influence on young children. As stated, they
are easily affected by advertising contents because they are not mature enough
to criticize the content. Also, this can allow parents to have unwanted
consumption due to their childrens' desire. Therefore, I firmly believe Television advertising directed toward
children under the age of five should not be allowed |