Negative Effects Of Advertising On Children

Decent Essays
“Television can be a powerful teacher” ("Impact of media use on children and youth", 2003). There are numerous amounts of ads aired on television and radios per day. Each ad is geared toward a certain age group and it achieves the task of influencing its audience, some times in a positively, other times negatively. Children often view ads that were not intended for an audience of their age and this can impact their lives greatly. Advertising to children has a negative effect on them because it promotes unhealthy habits, influences behavioral issues, and distorts self-perception of body image. Advertising to children can promote unhealthy habits. According to Kyla Rose RN, an average of 32 hours a week is spend watching television by children …show more content…
One of the most important things in life is for children to feel completely comfortable with the skin they are in but with the ads telling children how they should look, that seems unlikely. Among the ads about fatty foods, cigarettes, and alcohol, children are greeted with lingerie commercials from Victoria Secret or ads that feature bodybuilders promoting sports drinks and protein shakes. These ads by Victoria Secret suggest that young girls should look like the women in the commercial or should have a certain body type in order to be accepted by others. The bodybuilding ads that are seen in magazines or on internet ads influence a young boy that he should have muscles or use steroids to gain size to be attractive to women. This distortion contained in these ads contribute to the reduction of lowered self-esteem in both boys and girls. They also contribute to the increase of depression due to the lack of acceptance from others. The effects can further be explained in an article by G. Barve, Head of the Mass Communication at Amity University. He says, “Female and male adolescent tend to compare themselves with models in television advertisements more frequently at this age and as a result both the gender feel insure and lack of confidence in themselves. This also led to unhealthy lifestyle which is one of the most serious things to be taken care of now-a-days. Girls with stick to crash diet to get unattainable body of those models in advertisement and boys often resort to the use steroids and over exercising to achieve a perceived muscular body” (Sood A, 2015). With the deformation and reduction of self-esteem regarding self-image, these ads place unwanted stress on the child to be like what they see on television and in magazines. These ads have a two-fold negative effect on children, lowered self-esteem and unhealthy habits, which was previously stated. Advertisements that appeal to

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