Child Advertising, How Companies Target Children In the past generation, many companies have been targeting children as their main customers and consumers. Eric Schlosser described them as “kid kustomers”, meaning companies are targeting children in their advertisements and getting them to want their products instead of the parents. On the business side of this, it makes sense. If children want the product due to advertising in a commercial they will be more likely to purchase that product when they become older. Schlosser, the Journal of Adolescent Health Care, and Health Economics give examples of the effects that are caused from child advertising. Personally, I believe it is smart for the companies and business to target children in their ads but it should be for the companies and businesses that are for children. Many companies have been targeting children in their commercials with their cartoons and mascots for a while. Personally when I was younger I thought that the Camels cigarette cartoon camel with the sunglasses smoking a cigarette was cool, and I wanted to look cool. This technique has been used for many different companies after they realized that it worked. One example Schlosser gave was how children are susceptible to liking animals or toys and they can be drawn to that product;
The fast food industry has forged promotional links with the nation’s leading toy manufacturers… The major toy crazes of recent years, including Pokémon cards, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Tamogotchis, have been abetted by fast food promotions. A successful promotion easily doubles or triples the weekly sales volume of children’s meals (524)
Schlosser’s study proves that when children see a new toy, or animal in a advertisement they are two to three times more likely to purchase that product. Is it ethical to advertise and promote alcohol and cigarettes to children? I believe that it is unethical for two reasons. First, to legally purchase alcohol and cigarettes you have to be over a certain age, with alcohol 21 and cigarettes 18. Second, if a child were to consume either of these two products it would be detrimental to not only their body but also their mind. The Journal of Adolescent Health Care conducted a study that found out that children who consumed the advertisements of alcohol companies directed to children had a greater risk to purchase the product when they became older. The results stated “Those brands with higher youth-to-adult viewership ratios were significantly more likely to have a higher percentage of occurrences with addiction content and violations of industry guidelines.” This means that the ads and commercials that are directed to children leads to a higher percentage of underage consumption of those products whether it be alcohol or cigarettes and eventually possible addiction. This is another reason why these advertisements and commercials need to be regulated.
In an article from Health Economics a study was done on what would happen if there were a minor decrease in the amount of advertisements being allowed to be directed to children. The study stated “a 28% reduction in alcohol advertising would reduce adolescent monthly alcohol consumption from 25% to 21%. For binge consumption, the reduction would be from 12% to 8%.” Since this study is only a 28% reduction of advertisement, the results show the connection between advertising, purchasing and consuming the product. This gives us one way we can fix this problem. If we cannot eliminate these advertisements and commercials completely, we should limit the amount of ads and commercials and have them regulated before they are aired. As shown above in the study by Health Economics if we just decrease these ads and commercials by just 28% the decrease in the consumption of these products would be significant.
One opposition that alcohol and cigarette companies could use would be many other companies produce products that are unhealthy for children. For example fast food companies also advertise to children. Schlosser stated how big the connection between fast food companies and children are;
Burger King, Nickelodeon, Denny’s, Major League Baseball, McDonald’s and the Fox Kids Network all have formed a partnership that will show advertisements for fast food companies. Burger King has sold chicken nuggets that are shaped like Teletubbies. (525)
Even though the evidence is clear how these companies are targeting children with toys and not their food, nothing is being done about it. Some responsibility falls on the parents for being the ones who take them to these places and purchase these items for them. These companies are very clever. Their strategy of advertising to children more than the parents has been successful. Schlosser states “Every month about 90% of American children between the ages of three and nine visit a McDonalds” (524). This strategy is bringing companies a lot of success, and I personally find it terrible that it is acceptable for them to profit from children eating fast foods and their bad eating practices. A simple solution to this problem would be if parents didn’t take them to these places, I understand at times it can be easy to just grab some food on the go but there are other ways to have a fast meal then to consume fast food. There are many quick healthy meals that can be made at home or purchased on the go. Schlosser’s reasoning why companies still target children in their advertisements, even though parents are starting to acknowledge the negative effects of it, is because children are using a technique called “pester power.” Schlosser describes these children as pests because they will constantly bother their parents until they get something they want. Personally this technique never work out for me, but a lot of my friends were able to pest their parents into buying something for them. The “pester power” technique is why companies are effective when it comes to child advertising. These companies make their advertisings appealing to children knowing that they will try hard and pester their parents into buying them the product.

If these companies did the right thing and made advertisements directed toward the correct audience we wouldn’t have any problems, or we could even solve a few we as a generation have. First, the underage drinking and tobacco use percentage would decrease. Second, the obesity levels would also decrease. Finally, if these companies directed these advertisements to adults, there would be no loss. Meaning, the parents themselves would take interest to the product and buy it. There is no loss or harm if these companies just simply switched their targets and directed their advertisements to the correct audience, the adults.

Works Cited
Rhoades, Elizabeth and David H. Jernigan. “Risky Messages In Alcohol Advertising
2003-2007: Results From Content Analysis.” Journal Of Adolescent Health 52.1 (2013): 116-121. PsycINFO. Web 27 Oct. 2013
Saffer, Henry, and Dhaval Dave. “Alcohol Advertising and AlcohoConsumption By Adolescents.” Health Economics 15.6 (2006): 617-637. PsycINFO. Web. 27. Oct. 2013
Schlosser, Eric. “Kid Kustomers.” From Inquiry to Academic Writing. 2nd ed. Eds. Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s. 2012. 519-27.