Advertising

How far do you think advertising influences children’s perceptions of themselves? Should children be viewed as consumers? Should children learn about advertising in school and if so, what do teachers need to understand about the way in which children engage with advertising?

As discussed in the seminar, advertising permeates society and surrounds us as well as children. Gunter, Oates and Blades (2005) express the view that the key purpose of advertising is to deliver information about a brand or product in an attempt to create positive consumer perceptions of the brand, consequently aiming to make the product seem more appealing to purchase.

Gunter et al (2005) suggests that companies are beginning to realise the fact that children have an incredible spending power, influencing the spending habits of their parents as well as having access to their own funds. As a direct result of this, Calvert (2008) believes that advertising targets children in an attempt to exploit this increasingly vast spending power. This view is supported by Moore and Lutz (2000) who claim that advertisements are often used to influence children into believing that owning a certain product is essential.

Additionally, it could be argued that advertisement also impacts children socially.  For instance, Arthur (2004) argues how advertising is often used to suggest which popular item children should be purchasing in order to fit in with their peers. However, for those children who do not have this item, it means that they may become alienated from their peers and can be perceived as less popular, significantly impacting negatively on children’s perceptions of themselves as well as encouraging materialism (Arthur, 2004). As well as this, role models featured in advertisements play an integral role in influencing how children perceive themselves as well as others (Gunter et al, 2005).

Regarding whether or not advertising has a place in education, Burrell and Beard (2010) imply that children should have a clear understanding of the intent of advertisements. However, Oates, Blades, Gunter and Don (2003) claim that children’s understanding of the persuasive intent of advertisement is often under developed. Burrell and Beard (2010) address this by suggesting that by studying advertising, children are able to extend and develop their understanding of the persuasive elements involved, which can be incorporated in non-fiction writing, in particularly persuasive writing.  Although the National Curriculum for 2014 (2013) makes no reference to the discrete teaching of advertisement or persuasive writing, it does outline the need for children to be able to explore the purposes and effects writing has on different audiences. Therefore, it could be argued that studying advertisements could be beneficial in terms of academic writing as well as informing children of the intent of advertisements, allowing them to make informed decisions for themselves.

As a teacher, it is essential that an understanding of the ways children engage with advertisements is apparent. In doing so, teachers are able to expose the underlying features that are used to influence behaviour as well as use these features to supplement their non-fiction writing (Burrell and Beard, 2010).

Bibliography

Arthur, L. (2005) ‘Popular Culture: views of parents and educators’ in Marsh, J. (2005) Popular Culture, New Media and Digital Literacy in Early Childhood Oxon: RoutledgeFalmer

Burrell A. amd Beard R. (2010) ‘Children’s advertisement writing’ : Literacy 14  (2) Oxford: UKLA

Calvert, S. (2008). Children as Consumers: Advertising and Marketing. The Future of Children. 18 (1), Pp 205 - 234.

DfE (2013) The national curriculum in England Framework document Nottingham: DfE accessed from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/260388/MASTER_final_national_curriculum_11_9_13_2.pdf

Gunter, B. Oates, C. and Blades, M. (2005). The Issues about Television Advertising to Children. New Jersey: Laurence Erlbaum Associates .

Moore, E. and Lutz, R. (2000). Children, Advertising, and Product Experiences. Journal of Consumer Research. 27 (1).

Oates, C. Blades, M. Gunter, B. and Don, J. (2003). Children's understanding of television advertising: A qualitative approach. Journal of Marketing Communications. 9 (2)