http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/publichealth/HealthColumns/2007/Marketing%20Alcohol_to_Kids_April_25_2007.html
Young children are not yet mature enough to make decisions and choices when it comes to what they see being advertised. Countries such as Sweden and Norway ban all advertising to children under 12 and in Greece, toy commercials can onbly run at certain hours. (Taking Sides, 92) These ads banned are for toys, things that are made for children, if the impact of advertising is so great for adolescents, then something should be done to protect kids from the advertisements for alcohol and tobacco, which are made for adults. The problem with advertising is that the whole story isnt told about the product, assumptions and impliations are made that by using the product, which are not always true. (93) There are so many underlying things surrounding advertising, that some advertisers even take things to a level in which they beleive that what is surrounding the ad is just as important and has the same effect as what is in the ad. Companies such as Colgate-Palmolive won't allow ads in media where the content is "anti-social or in bad taste." They prescreen any questionable content before finalizing the placement of their ads. (119) This raises the questions about how ethical advertising really is, and the exact effects it has on consumers.
The super bowl, one of the biggest advertising events of the year; it has been said that more people watch for the commercials than for the game itself. One of the most popular and highly anticipated campaigns each year would be the Budweiser ads. These ads feature cartoon characters which offer more humor and entertainment than it does information about the product. According to Marketing Alcohol to Kids, "It’s no wonder that after every recent Super Bowl game polls show viewers under 17 years of age prefer commercials for beer over any other product." I thought this was an interesting read. "For every million additional readers aged 12 to 19 years, beer advertising increases by 60 percent, while ads for distilled spirits increase by 30 percent." Alcohol is on the rise, according to How Alcohol Ads Target Teens, (93), "Alcohol is the drug most used and abused by adolescents." It is causing more problems due to the consequences both immediate, which include a decrease of grades in schools, drinking and driving, suicide, sexual behavior influenced by alcohol, and violence, as well as long term effects such as alcoholism and the likelihood of drinking as adults.
Today's youth is being hit left and right with more ads than they know what to do with. "Adolescence is a time of life marked by increased risk-taking, sensation-seeking and erratic behavior in the best circumstances. For some young people, alcohol can have a special allure, but as the Surgeon General report indicates, “This attraction occurs at the very time adolescents may not be fully prepared to anticipate all the effects of drinking alcohol.” When alcohol is being portrayed in such a positive light, as something fun and interesting, its no wonder children are getting involoved at such an early age. It sparks the curiosity in them to figure out exactly what it is they are missing.
This leaves the questions up for discussion:
Who should have control over what our adolescents are being exposed to, if anyone, whose responsibility is it? The government, society, families, companies?
What restrictions should be put on advertising? Times, placement, content?
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7 comments:
The impact of advertising on children – a complex topic ...
The advertising industry spends large amounts of money in order to sell products, images and life styles to a target – public, partialy, formed by children. The littles ones are consumers who show a major interest towards the products and the messages that the advertising industry offers them, considering that publicity uses atractive sloganes, merchandising techniques and a series of celebrities loved by children such as: cartoon characters, movie and music artists. Every day children are exposed to the publicity through mass media and Internet. The advertising industry shows an important influence upon the children because it modeles the atitudes, the values and the believes of the children, it influences the perceptions of the children. The repetition technique in the publicity tells to the target public and not only, how different products will enrich the life and at what people can aspire.
It is dificult to keep control on the proces of exposuren of children to the ads. Advertisment is present everywhere: on the street, at school, in media, in buses etc. Many times the children are exposed to diferent “values” that the parents do not agree with, for example: presenting the “benefits” of alcohol and tobacco consumption.
A strong attention regarding the protection of the children from the ad messages inapropriate to their age, should, also, have not only the parents, but also media-planning responsibles from diferent mass media. They are the persons who think of sofisticated mathematical models for assuring optimal selection of the programs where are inside the publicity packages. These models must be concieved as a function of the link between the target public of the program or of the media type and the target public of publicitary message.
Therefore, advertising for alchool, tabacco and other products interdicted to the children should not be broadcasted in prime time, but rather after 10 PM. This kind of advertising will not be published in newspapers, but rather in adult magazines.
Maria Iova
As a parent, personally I am less worried about the Budweiser frogs than I am about the trend of television programs (not commercials) to depict alcohol consumption more frequently. According to the Fisher article, “alcohol depictions increased fourfold in fictional primetime from 1950 to 1984.” (99) In contrast, smoking depictions have declined 60-90% in the same time period (99). While teen alcohol abuse is rising, teen smoking rates have dropped according to the Center for Disease Control.
The fact that smoking ads have been banned from TV since 1971 surely has something to do with this, but there are other factors as well: Cigarette companies have been successfully sued for manipulating nicotine levels and lying about it, and a multitude of studies have proven that there are serious health risks associated with any amount smoking. In contrast, drinking in moderation for MOST adults does not carry any health risks. (The obvious exceptions being alcoholics or those with pre-existing medical conditions that make any alcohol consumption dangerous.)
Like it or not, fictional TV programs both reflect our culture and have the ability to expand the definition of what is normal and acceptable behavior—especially for kids. As a parent, it pretty easy for me to say, “Hey it’s a commercial, they only want your money and they’ll say ANYTHING to get it.” It’s a lot harder to combat the avalanche of media images that portray getting drunk as either a) funny b) without any serious consequences or c) no big deal.
I agree that alcohol advertiser's continue to target children.
And African American youth are their biggest targets.
Here are two websites that give excellent examples.
camy.org/resaerch/afam0606/and
www.naaapi.org/documents/alcopop.
I think that there are certain restrictions on alcohol ads on TV, I think that you can't advertise before nine. Although I'm not quite sure I've been looking but I haven't found anything.
For me I think that if alchohol advertisments went the way of cigarette advertisements and dsiappeared I think that would be great. I think that we also need to take into account that people continue to smoke and I can't tell you the last time I saw an advertisement for cigarettes. I know that they really cracked down on cigarette advertising when I was a kid but a lot of my friends that are my age smoke now.
I don't think you can control things like that and I know most of my friends started smoking because of the people that they hung out with and my guess is that it is the same thing for drinking. We should probably just keep our kids isolated from the world and never let them out of their room. (just kidding) I think that the influence of friends out weigh the affect that advertisements have on children.
I'm sort of torn on this thing, I think that advertisments affect adolescents but I think the influence of family and friends affects them more.
I stand corrected.... apparently even moderate consumption of alcohol can increase a woman's risk for breast cancer
The question is whether or not we will see a significant reduction in the number of women who consume alcohol. Will makers of beer, wine, and hard liquor be required to put a warning label on their products similar to the one on cigaretts? Time will tell.
I think one of the most pivotal effects of advertising alcohol to youth is mentioned very early on in Ricco's piece: "Jesse and others like him think Bud has a 'cool' image" (91).
Image has a huge impact on why underageds drink, especially those in college. Many of us can recall from our undergrad days how people consumed alcohol, and made their choices in terms of the kinds of alcohol they drank, with the kind of image it would project in mind. Those who favored a brand that had an image of high quality, in turn, had a better image than those who preferred the bargain brands.
It's hard to promote the taste of many forms of hard alcohol (vodka, whiskey, etc.), so image plays a role in arousing the interest to buy. The commercial featuring an attractive woman seductively polishing the last bit of amaretto off an ice cube comes to mind.
I think that advertising is ethical, although in some instanceses it may be inappropriate in how the messages are conveyed. It is impossible to find something that is kosher with everyone. Everything in this world will rub someone the wrong way. It is all about perception and what people hold true to themselves.
In terms of advertising and not portraying the bad things associated with the product (ex: Cigarettes and cancer) everything has 2 sides to it. Why do they have the side effects on medication that your doctor prescribes. If you are going to limit the advertising of alcohol on television, then you might as well limit the advertisements for the latest miracle drug that is going to cure your depression but give you a heart attack.
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