Food Industry and Children's Advertisements

Marcuse asks the question, “Can one really distinguish between the mass media as instruments of information and entertainments, and as agents of manipulation and indoctrination?” (Marcuse, 58) This question is especially important when considering what children can and cannot interpret as being truthful or manipulative.  In the scholarly article, “Television Advertising Leads to Unhealthy Habits in Children; Says APA Task Force” by the American Psychological Association they look at how young children are especially susceptible to the manipulation of advertising since they cannot comprehend as easily what is truthful and what isn’t. The article states, “This is a critical concern because the most common products marketed to children as sugared cereals, candies, sweets, sodas and snack foods. Such advertising of unhealthy food products to young children contributes to poor nutritional habits that may last a lifetime and be a variable in the current epidemic of obesity among kids.” (American Psychological Association, 1) This is an important area of research because it is important to look at the negative side effects that advertisements can have on children.  Currently one of the major problems in advertisements towards children is within the food industry.  Many studies have shown the increase in childhood obesity due to children not being as active and as well as the amount of junk food that children are eating. Through articles like the one above we are able to see how young children can be easily influenced by advertisements due to their lack of understanding that an advertisement is trying to influence them to buy a product.  Because of this, within the food industry companies are able to target young children and convince them to eat their product even if the product is bad for them.

One of the common food industries that target young children is sugary cereal.  As a child I can remember watching cereal TV commercials, such as Frosted Flakes and the tiger saying, “It’s great!” These TV commercials make it seem like these children go on great adventures or are having fun times simple because they are eating a brand of cereal.  As a young child I remember these TV commercials being convincing in targeting myself and I remember wanting to eat these brands of cereals. However, my parents were not so convinced by these TV commercials and recognized how unhealthy these cereals could be.  This was because my parents were old enough to understand that these advertisements were trying to manipulate people into believing that this was the cereal that they should eat. Since my parents were able to recognize this they never allowed my siblings or I to eat these types of cereals except on certain occasions. Like stated above, there is a barrier between children as consumers and these advertisements, since they must get these products through their parents, so it also depends on the parents feelings on these types of food.  With the rise in childhood obesity though we must start to consider the risk that we run by advertising unhealthy food, especially towards young children that are unable to understand the ways that advertising is manipulative.

It is important to monitor what young children are viewing because by children viewing advertisements and believing them, it can lead to them being convinced to eat these foods. Currently with the increase and the dangers that surround childhood obesity, we must start to look at ways to help prevent childhood obesity. One of these ways is monitoring how much children are exposed to unhealthy food through advertisements and getting children to go out and play rather than sitting and watching TV, which exposes them to these advertisements.

Work Cited

(2004, February 23.) Television Advertising Leads to Unhealthy Habits in Children; Says APA Task Force. American Psychological Association.

Herbert. Marcus (2008). One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. Boston: Beacon Press.

Ads “R” Us (April 1, 2016). Frosted Flakes Commercial (Field Track) 1990.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N0jyMuJkZI

Buck Wheat (March 26, 2014). 80’s Cap’n Crunch Berries Adventure Soggies Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKiwLdTCzHA

Gender in Advertising

“If the Individuals find themselves in the things which shape their life, they do so, not by giving, but by accepting the law of things – not the law of physics but the law of their society.” (Marcuse, 83)

Marcuse looks at the ways in which our society shapes one’s identity and the way that society views someone.  In the quote above we can understand how the ideologies of a society influence and shape the lives of the people living under their constraints on what is considered the norm and what isn’t.  In the article “Parents keeping child’s gender secret” it looks at the reasons to why parents would choose not to reveal their child’s sexual identity, as well as the struggles that come with not imposing gender norms on children.  Today in our society people are becoming more and more accepting of gender becoming more fluid between what was once considered for boys and what was once considered for girls.  However, many still look at families not imposing gender on their children as harmful, due to them saying it could cause bullying for these children later on.  We also see that even though our society is becoming more accepting about fluidity between boys and girls things, our society as a whole still views certain things as meant for boys or girls.  One area that we see gender stereotypes being played to is in advertisements. In the article “Parents keeping child’s gender a secret, “the moment a child’s sex is announced, so begins the parade of pink and barrage of blue.  Tutus and toy trucks aren’t far behind.” (Poisson)

For advertisers they play off of gender roles when marketing to children, which in retrospect makes sense.  Why wouldn’t a company advertise to their target audience and the group that they will most likely be able to persuade to buy their items?  However, the problem occurs when children of the opposite sex want items that are targeted towards the other sex, and then this child or parent suffers ridicule from some on not conforming or teaching their child gender norms.  In the article one can see the ways that these parents try not enforce gender on their children, however one has to realize that there are more forces out there then just parents influencing children on their genders.  Our society has created what we consider to be set norms of genders, such as girls like dolls or the color pink, and boys liking trucks, building and blue colors. Advertising is influenced greatly on our society’s expectations on norms because it is easier to sell to the audience that is considered the norm, then to sell to the one that isn’t.  Children are exposure to thousands of advertisements a day and through these advertisements they help establish gender norms in children. In the pictures located above we see how the advertisements targeted towards girls generally have the color pink represented in them.  These advertisements also show dolls, playing house and beauty items.  Whereas, the advertisements directed towards boys have blue in them or no color in the background even.  They show the boys building things, or having items that they can fight against each other.  These show not only how girls are viewed as being nurturing and caring about beauty, and boys being seen as being adventurous and competitive.

One of the advertisement campaigns that does a great job of marketing to both boys and girls is Lego. In the ad one can see how both a boy and a girl are represented in this ad and it states “Oh the fun of creating something you’re this proud of.” This show that no matter you gender you can play with Legos and create something that you can be proud of.  No where does the advertisement state girls can create girl like items and boys can create boy like items. Rather this advertisements shows that anyone can create whatever their imagination can create.

Like stated above, I understand why advertisements market towards their target audience in advertisements. However, I think if possible more advertisements should follow in Lego’s footsteps.  Specially when targeting towards young children, that way if any child is interested in a item then they can have it without feeling the pressures that society puts on them on whether or not that fits their gender.

Sexual Content in Advertisements

“This society turns everything it touches into a potential source of progress and exploitation, of drudgery and satisfaction, of freedom and oppression. Sexuality is no exception.” (Marcuse, 153)

It is common knowledge that advertisers use sex within their advertisements because it has been shown that sex sells.  However, this has been a controversial aspect of advertisements because sometimes these advertisements produce very sexual content that is degrading and harmful to those represented. One can also look at the history of advertisements and see how many of these sexually explicit advertisements would have never been produced or considered, as advertisers would have worried about the uproar that it could potentially cause.  However, Marcuse state, “It has often been noted that advanced industrial civilizations operate with a greater degree of sexual freedom – “operates” in the sense that the latter becomes a market value and a factor of social mores.” (Marcuse, 151)  This is a perfect example of how now a days our society views sexuality very differently then it use to and because of this sexuality is now used as a marketing tool and we as a society have accepted this as a social norm.  However, like stated above there are still many people who push back against advertisements that sexualize people.  But even with push back many advertisements that show sexual content are not deemed as being sexual, due to our change of stance as a society of what is too sexual and what isn’t. One area of sexual content in advertisements that the majority of people push back against is when children are portrayed in sexual ways. Below are a few examples of advertisements that portray girls in sexual ways.

            One of the reasons that there is so much push back against advertisements that show children in a sexual manor, is not only due to the inappropriateness of it, but also because they fear that children will see this and feel that that is the way they should look or act. For instance, I know that the way I dressed and how much make up I wore in middle school is very different to how middle schoolers dress now for the most part.  Marcuse looks at this idea of how we can change the way we perceive something through being exposure to them. Even if we recognize that they may not be necessarily right or true, however through this exposure we begin to except them and the reproduce these ideas ourselves. “Just as people know and feel that advertisements and political platforms must not be necessarily true or right, and yet hear and read them and even let themselves be guided by them, so they accept the traditional values and make them part of their mental equipment.” (Marcuse, 139) The risk that we run by having advertisements that show children in explicit ways is that these children will see these advertisements enough and they will except that this is the way they should look or act and put that into their “mental equipment.” 

            As one can see when looking at these advertisements the ones that are produced by Cadeaux and Beaute appear to not seem as sexual as the other ones.  However, they are still very problematic. They show these young girls appearing to be dressed and wearing make-up like an 18-year or older model.  As well as they are position in positions like that of older models. This would make young girls feel that they are suppose to be glamorized and appear like these young girls in these advertisements.  

The perfume advertisement, like the Cadeaux and Beaute advertisements show a young girl wearing heavy makeup and being glamorized.  However, this ad takes it a step farther by having the young girl wearing nothing and having the headline be “Tiny Treasures.” This shows a young girl being shown in a sense as a sexual object to promote a perfume. 

The last one for the advertisement “pop that” is extremely inappropriate.  The girls appear to be middle school age and are shown wearing revealing neon clothes.  This alone is problematic because they are shown in a sexual manor at a very young age.  However, this becomes even more problematic when you add the headline “Pop that.” This is highly inappropriate due to the fact that this makes these young girls represented in a sexual manor and that it is referring to losing ones virginity.

            As you can see there are a lot of problematic reasons for why we should avoid having children represented in sexual ways in order to sell products.  This can be harmful to children’s perception of themselves and the way that they should look and act.  As well as, this can be seen as an ineffective method of advertising since so many people are against exploiting children in this manor and so this can backfire on a campaign.  Due to these reasons and for the protection of children we should never show children in a sexual way within advertising.

Work Cited 

Herbert. Marcus (2008). One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. Boston: Beacon Press.