Throughout Regina Lee Blaszczyk’s American Consumer Society, 1865-2005, she examines the various cultural factors that have shaped consumerism in the United States of America from the mid 1800’s to early parts of the 2000’s. One of the more outstanding subject matters in the reading pertains to advertising directed by companies towards children. Seemingly, numerous companies recognized that the minds of adolescents are far more porous than those of mature adults. As Blaszczyk states, “ if a boy collected trade cards from Arbuckle Coffee, he might drink this brand when he grew up.” (p. 129) Once a youngster is introduced to a product from a particular brand, the likelihood of that child using or purchasing other items from that brand increases. The propensity for adolescents to purchase products they are accustomed to is illustrated when Blazczyk states, “ modern ads taught children to recognize brand names and distrust those products not found in magazines.” (p.129) Without a doubt, advertising directed towards children comprises a major part of modern day marketing strategy; the messages conveyed to the youth of America have severe repercussions. Unconsciously, these youngsters are contributing to the mass consumption of society; in many ways, children are in pursuit of the “American Dream” far before they are even aware of what this dream encompasses.
Despite the mammoth monetary gains received from advertising children’s products, marketers and companies should not forget their ethical responsibilities as citizens of society. There is no wrong in doing one’s job; however, the trends in obesity and usage of technology of adolescents in modern day America calls for some form of change. Even though children’s advertisements benefit society economically, the cons of this form of advertising may outweigh the benefits when considering the harm done to the health of these children. Advertising through television, Internet, and schools have created an environment centered on consumerism and the emotional responses that this form of consumption provides. As Blaszczyk states, “these wholesome images encouraged children to identify with kids in the picture and to believe that the right cereal would make them perfect, too.” (p. 129) The most common form of advertisement aimed towards kids comes in the form of food products. During the course of the attached scholarly article, it is summarized that the majority of the foods advertised to kids are high in fat and sugar. In other words, the foods being marketed to children are appealing, tasteful, and highly damaging. Although the manufacturers of the children’s food products are prospering economically, one might not say the same about welfare of those purchasing such products.
In accordance with the various themes and concepts presented during classroom discussions, the industry of child advertising in modern day U.S.A exemplifies the hedonistic nature of today’s society. Children’s food products can be compared to Americans search for pleasure; in that, when consumed, children are given a feeling of pleasure from food and technology in the same way as the adult American consumer would when purchasing any form of novel goods.
Link to Scholarly Article: http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/1/1/3
-Dhrupal B. Patel, Section 01
Advertisement has always been a huge factor in the lives of young children since after all, they are more easily persuaded and if necessary, prone to do whatever it takes to get what they want. I agree that it is a problem how companies take advantage of this vulnerability of children and how negatively it affects them throughout their entire lives.
ReplyDeleteCompanies and marketers do prioritize monetary profit over the actual harms it causes to the younger generation. They fail to look beyond the actual selling of the sugary food products or addicting video games. They fail to realize that children become easily drawn in to consume these goods to a point where it becomes addiction.
The American lifestyle has always been a huge market where since the day a baby is born, he or she will always be exposed to advertisements and brand names. They basically are trained to become a mass consumer of the grand American market.
Sueyon Kim Section 1
ReplyDeleteI have many small siblings, and I can see the effects of this advertisement in everything they do, everything they want. I'm not saying it's bad that they want toys and food, we all did as children. But I think that the types of food are the most terrible that have the highest success in campaigns. I read somewhere that more children know who Ronald McDonald is than George Washington. The simple, easy to recogonize logos and practices of these food companies are imbued in my siblings at an early age. One flash of red and yellow on a sign as we're driving on a highway has them clamoring for Burgerking. It's sort of scary. I want to get in to advertisement later in life, and while I know that it's just a job and the companies are just trying their best to make gains, it hits home when you have loved ones that are subject to the ever present power that they wield. Food is so basic because it can offer this 'pleasure' to even the youngest of child. Preying on the tastes and instincts that are with us from or more animalistic days. Salts taste good, sugars give energy, and through these tendencies, we can have quite a weak point. Children have it ten times worse because they don't have a will to speak of, they are made of wants, and because they perfectly represent this hedonistic society they are also a prisoner of it. That's why it should be up to guardians to protect the children, although sadly most are unable at best, and lazy at worst to have any say in the matter.
ReplyDeleteI also found this part of Blaszczyk's book interesting and began to think how advertising affected me as a child to influence my daily purchases of today. Growing up, kids are presented with a multitude of advertisement campaigns from t.v., magazines, the internet, and just walking around everyday. They are exposed to big name companies like Coca-Cola and Nike throughout their childhood and by buying these name brands at a young age, over time, brand loyalty begins to develop. I'm not sure where I've heard of brand loyalty before, but i'm sure everyone is affected by it. Growing up, my parents would buy me Adidas sneakers every school year, and so, once I got my first job, Adidas sneakers were all I bought. I had a relationship with this brand, it was part of my childhood, and therefore I believe that nostalgia plays a huge part of everyday consumer choices as well. People want to buy what they grew up with and what they trusted was a good product, and thus remain loyal to their brand.
ReplyDeleteJavier Morillo, Section 1
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ReplyDeleteBeing able to understand consumer buying behavior entails marketing, research in to the consumer need for the product, there want or desire and the consumers overall behavior. Consumer behavior is comprised all of the decisions and activities connected with the choosing a product from store X or Z, buying, using and disposing of the goods and services that they have recently received or purchased from the store. Over the years as marketers have started to pay attention to the consumer behavior that occurs before the purchase and after the particular product has been used. Studying the consumer habits is one of the steps in marketing to particular groups such as the wealthy & middle-class America for example the vast window displays allowed poorer people to dream of things they will want to attain and the wealthy class was able to see the product displayed out in an appealing form. Depending on what the product was it gave the consumer a view to how this product could work for them. As technology advances so do the ways that companies market to consumers, it went from simple mail order catalogs to virtual interactive marketing. Everyone wants something new & shiny the difference was in the birth of the industrial revolution most products were made to last and now a days after 2 years with your current cell phone you are up for an upgrade which in turn just locks you in for an other 2 years to a particularly company.
ReplyDeleteAnneMarie E.