Final Paper

Stephanie Meeks
http://stephmeekseng201.blogspot.com/
Eng 201.501
Essay #2 Final Draft
1,403 words

Children targeted by advertisers

As I sit with my brother in law, who is six years old, watching TV I am bombarded by requests for food and toys that he sees on television. We are not watching adult shows like I would watch we are watching kid’s networks such as: Disney, Cartoon Network, or Nickelodeon. It appears he is more interested in the advertisements on the commercials than he is the show that is on. He is so tuned into the commercial that I can’t even get his attention during one. I have always wondered what makes him so fascinated in the advertisements and why he wants everything he sees on the television. In recent years the food and beverage industry in the United States has viewed children and adolescents as a major market force. As a result, children and adolescents are now the target of intense and specialized food marketing and advertising efforts. In 1982 after the release of the children’s movie ET Reese’s candy sales increased 65% in one month due to being placed in the movie. (Mikkelson) So, what has caused advertisers to market to children so heavily, and what negative consequences arise from this?

Advertising is central to the marketing of the United States food supply. Marketing is defined as an activity an organization engages in to facilitate an exchange between itself and its customers/clients. The American food system is one of the largest advertisers and is also the leading buyer of television, newspaper, magazine, billboard, and radio advertisements. Estimates are as high as $10 billion spent on advertising all types of food and beverages to America’s children and youth. According to the Federal Trade Commission report, "Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation," 44 major food and beverage marketers spent $1.6 billion to promote their products to children under 12 and adolescents ages 12 to 17 in the United States in 2006. (Money Spent on Advertising) Why is so much money spent on advertising? First of all the food market captures approximately 12.5 percent of consumer income, Second, food is a repeat purchase item. Last but not least food is one of the most highly branded items in the American economy. (Gallo)
There are many tactics used in fast food advertising. Fast food businesses will claim promotions such as toys with kid’s meals provide a pleasant visit to their store for the parents. In reality this is a tactic used by advertisers to bait children to desire their products. Multiple techniques and channels are used to reach youth, beginning when they are toddlers, to foster brand-building and influence food product purchase behavior. These food marketing channels include television, in-school marketing, product placements, kids clubs, the Internet, toys and products with brand logos, and youth targeted promotions.

Children today have more purchasing power than ever before. They are the consumers of tomorrow. Because they influence their parents on purchases, it opens a whole new audience for marketers. Children are much more vocal than they used to be and are not afraid to speak up when they want something. Advertisers call this pester power; most others call it nagging. In other words, kids aren’t afraid to kick and scream to get their parents to buy them something. Fast food advertising to children is all about pester power. Marketers rely on children to nag their parents rather than advertise to parents directly.

The heavy marketing directed towards youth, especially young children under the age of five, is driven largely by the desire to build and develop brand recognition and brand loyalty. Marketers believe that brand preference begins before purchase behavior. Brand preferences in children appear to be related to two major factors; 1) Children’s positive experiences with a brand and 2) Parents liking that brand. A child’s first request for a product occurs at about 24 months of age. Seventy-five percent of the time this request is made in a grocery store. Approximately 50% of these requests are for sugared brand name cereals. (Berry, 45)

The largest single source of media messages about food to children, especially younger children, is television. Over 75% of United States food manufacturers’ advertising budgets and 95% of United States fast food budgets are allocated to television. (Gallo) Food is the most frequently advertised product category on United States children’s television. Children view on average one food commercial every five minutes of television viewing time and may see as many as three hours of food commercials a week. This is approximately 25,000 commercials viewed annually. (Integrating Results, 3) A recent study looked at United States food advertising during 52.5 hours of Saturday morning children’s programming. 564 food advertisements were shown. Of these ads, 44% promoted food from the fats and sweets group, such as candy, soft drinks, chips, cakes, cookies, and pastries. Advertising of fast food restaurants comprised 11% of total advertisements. (Gamble, Cotugna, 263) Television gives advertisers a way to walk though the front door of a home and speak directly to the children. What is noteworthy and utterly revealing about advertising to children is that it almost always is for things that most parents would not themselves choose for their kids, especially in regard to food.

The trends in fast food consumption have changed drastically over the past several decades. Currently, fast food restaurants are often the overall choice for food away from home. Socioeconomic trends, such as longer working hours, more women employed outside the home, and a high number of single-parents households, have changed the way Americans obtain their meals. As parents experience busier lifestyles, they demand convenience for their family meals. The increasing reliance on fast food is fostered because of the quick service, convenience, good taste, and inexpensive prices relative to more traditional table-service restaurants. Between 1977 and 1996, the percentage of meals eaten at fast food establishments increased 200%. More than 45% of today’s food dollars are spent on food that is eaten out, a value predicted to exceed 53% by 2010. According to a recent national household survey, 30% of youths between the age of 4 and 19 years old consume fast food on a typical day. School aged children and adolescents spend 8 billion and 13 billion dollars, respectively, of their own money on fast food. (Fast Food and Children)They also exert a strong influence on their parents’ choices of quick service establishments.

The rise of childhood obesity in America is part of a larger story: how corporations have laid claim to children’s imagination. Parents are finding themselves increasingly on the defense, fending off, deflecting, combating, and all too often making grudging compromises with the cravings that corporate marketers conjure in their kids. In the case of food, those cravings generally are for foods that parents wish their children didn’t want, and for good reason. Almost without exception, they are foods that might as well have been specifically designed to make kids fat. Depending on how you measure it, between 15 and 24 percent of American children are overweight. This is three times more than the rate of the 1970’s.(Ruskin) Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had this to say,” The number one health problem in the United States is not SARS, it is not emerging infectious diseases. It is the epidemic of obesity that we are watching unfold before our eyes.”(Ruskin) The epidemic of childhood obesity is a tragedy for many reasons, and it portends poorly for the health of our entire nation in the coming decades. There are many causes for this unfortunate trend, but the number one cause is the persistent theme of how corporations have insinuated themselves into virtually every corner of children’s lives. It is as if they have written the master script for children’s’ interactions with their own families.

Clearly, advertising represents "big business" in the United States and can have a significant effect on young people. Nutrition during childhood and adolescence is essential for growth and development, health, and well being. Eating behaviors established during childhood track into adulthood and contribute to long term health and chronic disease risk. Numerous studies have shown that young children have little understanding of the persuasive intent of advertising. Prior to age seven, children tend to view advertising as fun, entertaining, and unbiased information. (Kunkel, 6) It is essential to educate children and teenagers about the effects that advertising may have on them as consumers.