Corporations’ Influence on Children

Oates, Jen. Young Boy Watching Television. 2010. Accessed
3 Mar. 2011. <http://www.mamapop.com/2010/12/the-magic-in-
the-machines-why-i-pink-puffy-heart-my-dvr.html/young-boy-
watching-television>

Major corporations can greatly influence and control the mainstream media.  Many of them own media stations and media outlets.  These large corporations are also making lots of money and are able to spend more and more money on sophisticated was to make people buy their products.  Children are major targets of advertising and its impact is greater than usual because it lessens the effect that their parents and others in the older generation have on them.  According to Melissa Dittmann of the American Psychological Association corporations spend about $12 billion per year on ads targeting children (par 1).  Dittmann also states that the average child watches around 40,000 television commercials each year (par 1).  Many children do not have the ability to recognize the persuasive intent of advertisements.  Most children can remember what happened in an advertisement and have a desire for the product after viewing just one commercial.  Dr. Brian Wilcox believes that advertisements can influence a child’s behavior as well (par 11).  As an example Wilcox says that when a child watches an ad for healthy food and then watches an ad for snack food at the same sitting then the ad for healthy food loses its effectiveness (par 11).  This type of advertising that encourages children to eat sugary, greasy, unhealthy foods could be increasing the rate of childhood obesity.  Also most people’s childhood eating habits continue throughout their adult life.  Studies from the Anti-Defamation League show that advertising could also affect a child’s views about their self image which could increase their stress levels and could possibly lead to depression (par 2).  Many children watch T.V. or surf the internet without any parental guidance there to explain to them what is actually going on.  According to Dr. Dale Kunkel children automatically think that ads are fair and truthful and cannot tell if something is exaggerated or bias (par 14).  Also studies from Dittmann have shown that big corporations use psychological research to make the message of their ads more powerful (par 16).  Many corporations use characters and celebrities such as SpongeBob SquarePants to lure children in.  To stop the damaging effects that corporations have on children parents need to get more involved in their child’s life and make sure that their child is not being manipulated or misled by anything.  

Works Cited

Anti-Defamation League. Media Influence and Self-Image. 2001. 3 March 2011 <http://www.adl.org/what_to_tell/whattotell_media.asp>.

Dittmann, Melissa. Protecting children from advertising. June 2004. 3 March 2011 <http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun04/protecting.aspx>.

Oates, Jen. Young Boy Watching Television. 2010. Accessed 3 Mar. 2011. <http://www.mamapop.com/2010/12/the-magic-in-the-machines-why-i-pink-puffy-heart-my-dvr.html/young-boy-watching-television>