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By Mindy Bilgrey, HealthAtoZ contributing writer
The world is a sharply commercial place, and you can see this best in the media. While the impact on adults may be a problem, the outcome is devastating for our children.
Television shows no longer just provide entertainment for children. Now they are a showcase for "must have" items that parents are expected to buy. They teach our children to become consumers before they've even reached the age of 3.
Parents must be aware of the commercial messages found in all advertising - print, movies, videos, music videos, computer games and the Internet. These messages depict how sexy and cool it is to use alcohol and tobacco products, promote consumption of candy and other unhealthy foods, and sanitize violence. All this could create addicts as well as physically and mentally unhealthy people.
Advertising affects our children
Some experts are calling this a public health problem. Parents must be concerned about the impact of advertising on their children, who spend more than six hours per day with media-related materials. During this time, children are being exposed to values that parents may not like. This includes the ways advertising portrays women, glorifies materialism and touts the benefits of alcohol and tobacco use.
Advertisers of children's television used to appeal to parents. Now they appeal directly to children, who can't evaluate what's being sold to them. Kids are constantly being told to buy this or that product, that another product will make them happy, that someone can never have enough and that everyone needs more. This process undermines a child's inner needs, experts say. It also affects their ability to learn how to create an inner happiness or inner power.
Advertisers have created a separate market for children. They spend about $12 billion per year on advertising to children in order to influence about $500 billion in spending.
Advertising is impacting our children's health
A group called Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) is leading a national effort to counter the harmful effects of marketing to children. CCFC studies, publicizes and sometimes protests things that can be harmful to children. They've even spoken to Congressional meetings about passing laws the give children a break from commercials.
Another group, Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment (TRUCE), is also working to protect children. TRUCE is a national group of educators concerned with how children's toys and entertainment affect kids in the classroom.
What can parents do?
Parents must remember that kids soak up all the messages that advertising sends out. Until kids have reached the ages of 10 to 14, they don't have a critical perspective. They don't understand that some of what they see is real and some of it isn't, so they can become overwhelmed.
Parents should do the following:
- Watch television with their children
- Be aware of what their children are doing on computers
- Not allow their children to be part of market research on Internet chat rooms
- Be emotionally present in their kids' lives
- Affirm values and qualities of their children, independent of material goods
- Create a special family time, which could include a weekly hike, playing a game or going to church
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
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