Business-Managed Democracy

Business-Managed Democracy » Culture » Consumerism » Advertising to Children » Television Advertising

Business-Managed Culture

Television Advertising to Children

Television is an ideal way for advertisers to reach children as it is so omnipresent in homes around the world. In more than a third of the homes of American preschool children the television is on most of the time, whether or not anyone is watching. By the time they get to first grade American children will have “spent the equivalent of three school years in the tutelage of the family television set” and by the time they finish high school they will have spent more time watching television than they spent in class for their entire schooling.

In the US:

• 
  Reference: Victoria Rideout et al., ‘Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8–18 Year-Olds, Executive Summary’, Menlo Park, CA, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, March 2005, p. 6 (pdf).
  The average child watches more than 21 hours of live television a week and another six hours of pre-recorded television, DVDs and videos.
• 
  Reference: Anne Sutherland and Beth Thompson,Kidfluence: The Marketer's Guide to Understanding and Reaching Generation Y – Kids, Tweens, and Teens, (New York, McGraw-Hill, 2003), p. 58; Victoria Rideout et al., ‘Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8–18 Year-Olds, Executive Summary’, Menlo Park, CA, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, March 2005, p. 9 (pdf); Susan Gregory Thomas, Buy, Buy Baby: How Consumer Culture Manipulates Parents and Harms Young Minds, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2007, p. 9.
  Two out of three children over eight years old have a television in their bedroom; as do one in three aged between two and seven and one in four children under two.
• 
  Reference: American Academy of Pediatrics, ‘Media Use by Children Younger Than 2 Years’, Pediatrics, 17 October 2011, p. 3 (pdf).
  "Thirty-nine percent of families with infants and young children have a television on constantly".
• 
  Reference: American Academy of Pediatrics, ‘Children, Adolescents, and Advertising’, Pediatrics 118(6), 2006, p. 2563.
  American children see over 40,000 television advertisements each year and more on the internet, in magazines and even in schools.

In Australia:

• 
  Reference: ‘What Are We Feeding Our Children? A Junk Food Advertising Audit’, Canberra, Australian Divisions of General Practice, February 2003 (pdf).
  The average child watches 17.5 hours of television each week.
• 
  Reference: Phil Marchionni, ‘Advertising and Children: Ethical Perspectives’, in Stephen Frith and Barbara Biggins (eds) Children and Advertising: A Fair Game?, Sydney, New College Institute for Values Research, 1994, p. 73.
  20 per cent of children watch television for more than 30 hours each week.
• 
  Reference: Carmel Egan, ‘Crackdown on Children's Ads’, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 June, 2007.
  Australian children see up to 30,000 television adverts each year.

In the UK:

• 
  Reference: ‘Childhood Obesity - Food Advertising in Context’, Office of Communications, 22 July 2004, p. 14 (pdf).
  The average child watches around 17 hours of television a week.
• 
  Reference: Alissa Quart, Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers, London, Arrow, 2003, p. xi.
  Three out of four children between 5 and 16 have a television in their bedroom.
• 
  Reference: Carlone Oates et al., ‘Children and Television Advertising: When Do They Understand Persuasive Intent’, Journal of Consumer Behaviour 1(3), 2001, p. 239.
  UK children view more than 18,000 television adverts each year.

Links

• 'Television', Commercial Alert
• 'Children and Advertising', Online Encyclopedia
• 'How TV Affects Your Child', Kids Health
• 'Television Food Advertising to Children', Cancer Council NSW

Previous

Next