Children s Advertising and Media Regulation AN OVERVIEW ARIEL SKOW

Children s Advertising and Media Regulation AN OVERVIEW ARIEL SKOW

OVERVIEW Direct advertising to the youth market has become increasingly popular with the advent of television and children s programming blocks. Promoting children s products during shows is incredibly commonplace, which is why people are concerned in 2000, the American Psychological Association task force concluded that the average American child watched upwards of 40,000 commercials per year. This number has been growing significantly, especially with the introduction of cable television and completely children-directed stations like Nickelodeon or Disney. The primary concerns of advertising to children are: - The quantity of advertisements directed to children per day - Children s psychological inability to discern persuasive from factual media - The quantity of food advertising to children is contributing to the rise of obesity rates in youth demographics - An increase in materialism amongst children in earlier ages, which is suggested to lead to lower life satisfaction as they grow - The development of positive attitudes towards alcohol and tobacco at early ages, which could lead to underage consumption (APA, 2004) It is clear that advertising to the under-18 market will not be going anywhere, and it is important for both advertisers and consumers to be familiar with current regulations, controversies, and proposed solutions. This paper is intended to give an overview of these main categories. TELEVISION AND ADVERTISING TO KIDS

WHY CHILDREN? The children s market is a significant sector of marketing and advertising- specific products are marketed to children using bright colors, appealing characters, and engaging products. Since children s programming is required on all active broadcast stations, advertisers are able to use this time frame to market these products towards kids and parents watching shows intently. Children s advertisements are designed to be easily recalled with catchy jingles and rhymes, and are generally very effective. By seeing even one advertisement, children develop positive associations with that product. If children have positive associations with a product and therefore suggest or recommend it to parents due to these associations, they can potentially have a strong effect on parent s purchasing decisions. (Wilcox et al, 2004) FOOD ADVERTISING AND CONCERNS We could not discuss advertising directed towards children without touching upon food and drink ads. One of the most popular areas to advertise to children is food breakfast cereals, snacks, and candy continue to be marketed extensively to kids during programming hours. A very large percentage of the children s advertising market is occupied by foods, with companies in the United States spending an estimated $10-12 billion on food and drink advertising. (Bakir and Vitell. 2009) The American Journal of Public Health stated in 2010 that food marketing and advertising is one of the greatest environmental factors contributing to childhood obesity in recent years, outranking lack of exercise and dietary recommendations. Internationally, food advertising can compose up to 29% of advertising, 87% of these being for foods typically considered to be junk food foods not nutritionally dense or complex. (Kelly et al., 2010) Many watchdog organizations recommend that regulations and restrictions be implemented for these commercials on a national scale to stem the rising obesity rates among children and teens. (Center for Science in the Public Interest, 2006)

CURRENT AND PROPOSED REGULATION LEGISLATION AND REQUIRMENTS Over the years, regulations have been introduced to children s programming and advertising, most notably those outlined in the Children s Television act of 1990, which implements restrictions on: - Advertisements consisting of less than 10.5 minutes per hour - Commercials being separated from programming with unrelated material to the program - Toys and other goods being central to children s programming, except in certain cases - Advertisements using characters or actors from an adjacent program ( host-selling ) Advertisers need to be aware of these before marketing a product to the under-18 age group or face consequences. These regulations were established by the United States House of Representatives under the Children s Television Act of 1990, and are currently implemented by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC later implemented restrictions supplementary to the Children s Television Act, which include: - Limiting the length of advertising - Requiring stations to broadcast at least three hours of educational programming a week for license renewal - Limiting the quantity of program-length commercials It should be noted that these requirements did not extend to private cable broadcasters. The most notable case for violating these requirements occurred in 2004, when Viacom and the Walt Disney Company, owners of Nickelodeon and ABC Family respectively paid $1.5

million in fines for violating the limits of children s advertising during programs. Even though these channels were available only on cable, since the owners also owned public broadcast stations they were required to pay fines. APA RECOMMENDATIONS The APA has additional recommendations for networks, parents, and psychologists that have not yet been approved legally or gone before any sort of legislation, and include: - Displaying easily-understandable disclaimers to children about the nature of advertisements during programs - Providing education in media literacy to children and parents - Implementing restrictions on advertising in a school setting - Supporting continuing research on gender and culture in advertising Additionally, the APA recommends that the industry support more rigorous self-regulation and that pre-existing review boards publicize their guidelines widely so viewers can more effectively report any deviation. (Wilcox 2004)

ADVERTISER S OPPOSITION TO BROADCAST REQUIREMENTS Some advertisers argue that these restrictions are unnecessary or especially punitive, with their main arguments including that: - Even if television advertisements were completely banned, kids would still be exposed to other advertisements through the day - If advertisements were limited, prices for children s toys would increase since demand is lower and manufacturing costs need to be covered - Since advertisers contribute to programming costs, the variety and quality of the required educational television would significantly decrease Some advertisers and program runners claim that if it is legal to sell a product, it should be legal to advertise it (Eagle et al. 2005). This especially applies to food advertising. In 1978, the Federal Trade Commission issued a report stating that television advertising directed to children who are too young to appreciate the selling purpose of, or otherwise comprehend or evaluate, the advertising is inherently unfair and deceptive (Center for Science in the Public Interest, 2007). Opponents of these federal regulations would prefer to follow the APA s suggestion to selfregulate, and it has seen some success with the advent of the Children s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), funded by some major food and toy producers like Frito-Lay, Hershey s, and National Geographic Kids. (CARU, 2009) Instead of focusing on the products and amount of advertising, CARU controversially limits advertising tactics while still allowing for objectionable products like salty and sugary snacks to be advertised. (CARU, 2009)

CONCERNS ABOUT CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT INTERPRETATION OF ADVERTISING WHY IS IT SO EFFECTIVE? People have been concerned about marketing products specifically to children for a very long time. The first regulation was passed in 1874 by the British Parliament, declaring that children should not be induced to buy products and assume debt (Brand et al., 2007). The biggest argument against advertising to children is that children are unable to discern promotional and coercive material from the programming that precedes or follows it, and regulations have been suggested or implemented to limit this confusion. Kelly et al. (2010) state that children under the age of six are not able to discern persuasive intent, and that children older than this may understand some forms of persuasion, but are unable to think critically about the messages they are receiving. (Barry, 1980) One of the most recent and larger worries that people have is the effect of food marketing on children. The foods being advertised towards them are typically sugary, starchy, or generally considered unhealthy. Public health officials state that regulating the food advertising market would be a very large step to preventing childhood obesity by affecting environment. PARENTAL CONCERNS AND ADVERTISING Even though these advertisements are directed towards children, the products have to be or appear innocuous enough to also appeal to parents. This age group does not yet have a source of reliable funding and therefore these products need to be bought by one that does their caretakers. A major concern surrounding advertising is that the relationship between parents and children will become strained as kids pester their guardians for the bright, colorful, appealing products they say advertised on television, sometimes using characters from their favorite programs. (Bakir & Vitell, 2005). Although Bakir and Vitell s research suggests that parents have little to no extreme opinion of the ethics of marketing to children, the concerns of lower life satisfaction, increased materialism, and succeptibility to persuasive attempts that physiologists and childhood development experts warn against still stand.

OTHER LONG-TERM CONCERNS It is clear that television advertisements directed at children will not be eliminated in the near future, but as media shifts more towards the internet the nature of these ads might see change. As more children find their way to the internet, advertisers will focus their attention there with online games ( advergames ) and interactive sites to allow children to associate fun and positive experiences with their product, which will increase their chances to either buy or convince their parents to buy advertised products. One of the biggest concerns with exposing children to advertising early is an early development of materialism, resulting in lower life satisfaction. Opree et al. (2012) propose three potential reasons for this: - Children will develop an insatiable desire for material goods, and when these desires cannot be fulfilled, poor life satisfaction will follow - An early development of materialism makes children have higher standards, and when these standards are not met, they become disillusioned. - Material goals will stand in the way of obtaining happiness by filling a void in interpersonal relations. Opree et al. suggest that these behaviors are learned from advertising at an early age, especially advertisements that display a generally unattainable degree of wealth and an idealized life, because children are less able to differentiate between content and persuasive material, they associate owning products with these outcomes.

FINAL THOUGHTS Children s advertising will not be permanently eliminated, no matter how controversial. As media continues to adapt to the online age, advertisements will continue to spread to the internet and engage children in other new ways. It is therefore incredibly important to be mindful of how advertisements try to appeal to children and deliver persuasive messages. As the internet grows more popular and children spend more time on it, it is highly likely that television advertisers will encourage children to visit websites tied in with products that they are promoting. This is also an effective way to circumvent the regulation that advertising should only take up 10-12 minutes per hour of children s programming. As ads make their move online to other audiences, more regulations will have to be set in place to complement existing ones- since they were passed by the House of Representatives in 1990, they are not adequate to keep up with the rapidly changing communication technologies. Advertisers will have to be careful and considerate in the future as more parents and experts rally against their persuasive methods, and must conform to new regulations as the internet and new media becomes more of a staple in children lives.

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