Children As Consumers Analysis Essay Example

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False advertisement also contributes to the problem because they place manipulated or retouched photos in their ads. Which lead to children wanting to look like those images of models, which aren’t real themselves! Dolls also play a role in demonstrating what is beauty or how you’re so supposed to look. It shows that a human body is perfect and that you have to look like that to be accepted in society. Besides there is a sense of peer pressure involved in consumerism. Corporations force parents to buy their children the latest items.

This is because parents fear the possibility of their children becoming outcast in their social groups. Consumerism promotes children to become self- centered. So they have to get what they want even if they don’t really need it. This also creates problems in children creating and maintaining a relationship. Children become dependent on material objects, which obstruct their critical thinking ability. As you can see, consumerism creates psychological problems in children which create a viscous cycle between wants and needs.

Obesity, anorexia, bulimia, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease: this is just a small list of diseases influenced by advertising. Foods targeted to children are usually high in calories and low in nutrition (McGinnis). The marketing strategy mostly affecting children today is the placement of unhealthy foods at children eye levels. The healthier choice would be to have foods, like fruits and vegetables in those places. Corporations also conduct research to find out kids in store behavior. Every year, big time companies spend millions of dollars into child observation.

They have noticed that children react to certain colors subconsciously.

So store owners place their products in a certain structure in order to attract the youth. Product placement is another marketing strategy that affects a child’s health in a drastic way. Lately, beverage companies like coca cola have joined forces with the movie and TV industry. Placing advertisements into the popular movies targeted for children. This strategy plants the idea that it is correct to eat or drink certain brands because their favorite characters do so.

There is so much product placement that brand logos and catchy songs become familiar. This is the primary goal for all ambitious companies. Selling to children is all about the money for the corporations but they should take their customers health into consideration. Children consumerism affecting behavior seems so far-fetched but this is the reality. Advertisement promotes violence to boys and states that it’s the only way to resolve conflicts. There is a substantial correlation between media violence and children behavior. A censorship should be applied to commercials and children media.

In girls, there has been an incline of sexual images in movies and especially dolls. The evolution of dolls into a more sexual view has spread all throughout the U. S. Young girls are getting the message “that they are what they wear” and that without the material objects they don’t obtain significance or value in life. Kids spend most of their childhood watching TV, so companies invest billions into this. An advertisement sometimes defies the parent’s point of view. Most of the times, the concept of advertisement corrupts the innocence of a child.

This makes parents feel like they’re in constant competition with these

companies, creating a sense of frustration for hard working parents. This is extremely frustrating because advertisement to children is available in every aspect of life. Usually, companies start their bombardment of advertisement since the child is born. They feel that brand loyalty is a vital aspect of consumerism. So children are hooked at a young age into becoming lifelong customers. Companies realize that kids are like sponges, absorbing every single detail that is thrown their way and sometimes they seem to exploit it.