Kids and teens are a valuable market to advertisers. Helping them become more critical of marketing messages can help protect them from exploitation.
Why do marketers love teens? A number of reasons. They have money to burn, and the items they buy are largely “luxury” items, like clothing, electronics, and music. They make many, if not most, of their purchasing decisions independently. And they have significant influence on family purchases. Perhaps most importantly, companies know that once they have “branded” a child, he or she is likely to be a customer for life, or from “cradle to grave.”
How do they reach kids? Everywhere. Advertising is in magazines, movies, TV shows, and on the internet. Licensed products, in the form of clothing, toys, and accessories, abound. Schools make deals with soda companies and sell naming rights to their gyms to the highest bidder. Companies glean important demographic info about kids spending habits from seemingly innocuous internet “quizzes” and “surveys”. Marketing comes at kids from all directions, twenty-four seven.
How do marketers do it? They know how to capitalize on important teenage issues and anxieties, like body image, peer acceptance, coolness, and a need for power. They use these themes repeatedly in advertising geared towards children and teenagers. Marketers also often hone in on themes and attitudes that parents might find inappropriate or offensive, like sex or alcohol and drug use, further escalating the “coolness factor” of the product.
Why is advertising so effective? Advertising works best when it creates insecurity about something, such as appearance. A successful ad convinces the viewer that they have a problem that needs fixing, and then proposes to offer the solution, which just happens to be the product they are selling. The message is that teens aren’t good enough the way they are. Many kids unwittingly buy into that message, and as a result, end up being hypercritical of themselves because we don’t fit a certain “image” that they believe is necessary for their happiness.
What's wrong with this picture? This generation of kids is growing up in what is perhaps the most materialistic society we have ever had. They are surrounded by images of excess and the idea that buying “things” will bring them satisfaction. They are given things easily and rarely have to delay gratification. Worst of all, many of the things that are advertised to teens do not promote healthy development.
How can you help? Teens need to become more critical viewers of advertising. Help them recognize what’s behind the hard sell. Ask them to identify the themes the advertiser is using to try to connect with them. Ask them to point out what “need” is being projected that the product can supposedly “fill”. Is the product really going to have the impact that the ad implies?
The copyright of the article Advertising To Teens in Youth Development is owned by Susan Carney. Permission to republish Advertising To Teens in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
i think its wrong. itz making teens do things that they shouldnt.
Dec 18, 2008 12:03 PM
Guest :
i personally beleive that it is wrong to gear advertisements to teenagers
becuase it changes there thinking of how to look at a certian produst and
pursueds them to buy it, thatz like taking advantage of a younge mind that
doesnt no better
Jan 4, 2009 1:23 PM
Guest :
i am creating a paper for my sr year in high school. my statment is
"the way teens are getting advertised to is sterotipical unapropret
and is giving teens a bad rep" and the more and more i look into it
this statment is becomes more and more true
Jan 8, 2009 7:01 AM
Guest :
ITS STUPIT!!! the people that they are targeting toward can't even legally
smoke yet.
Jan 15, 2009 9:08 PM
Guest :
I believe that this article provides valuable information for research on
the "influence od advertising on teens today". This is the topic
that I am currently researching for an assignment. This is also a great
example for teens; they should form their own opinion on products that
companies have to offer rather than agree with the one suggested in
"advertisements". It may be wrong, but we all have choices.
Persuasion will go as far as you allow it.
Jan 30, 2009 10:39 AM
Guest :
ya know whats stupid. the person who spelled stupid STUPIT. no. anyway.
advertising to teens like this is wrong because the media portrays teens to
be the pedfect image. why cant they accept that we are all different and
unique in our own way? alainers && bee. :]]
Feb 17, 2009 5:00 PM
Guest :
Advertizing twoards teens an utalizing our youth is just sick and wrong.
it' slike they are trying to hypnotize us so they can take our money and
use us. I for one try not to buy too many "luxury items".
Mar 12, 2009 9:00 AM
Guest :
Im a teen who hates these stupid advertisements i mean most are targeting
too many children at a young age have you ever noticed that posters are at
children's eyesight it was sick. Most tobacco company's put them in a
child's eyes
Apr 3, 2009 3:55 PM
Guest :
Advertising to teens shouldn't be so stereotypical. We have a lot of
self-esteem and body issues and if a company says something like "our
new product will od this and that to you and you'll feel part of the
in-crowd' it's just wrong. They shouldn't mess around with young people's
minds. We are still learning and if we are taught to just spend sppend
spend then what on earth will happen to us when we're older? Just
remember, money doesn't equal happiness
May 15, 2009 4:33 PM
Guest :
i thing its wrong because targeting adolescents and childrens sucks
Aug 16, 2009 9:19 AM
Guest :
i am a teenager myself and i think it's wrong. i am not the kind of person
who falls for ads, but i think that it is mean to try to scam us. why do so
many people fall for it? everyone knows that ads lie!
Aug 17, 2009 5:42 PM
Guest :
thought every ones life there has been advertising. Yes companies target me
and my generation but we arnt as stupid as tehy or yourself think we are.
we have grown up around advertising and therefore have learnt to ignor it
or figure out when they are tring to manipulate us. i do admit that we some
times fall into the traps but it isnt only teenagers that fall into the
trap. Every on at some point in there life will fall into an advertising
trap.
Sep 24, 2009 11:07 AM
Guest :
WHY MUST THEY DO SUCH A THING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Oct 6, 2009 2:56 PM
Guest :
You all say the same thing, basically just rephrasing the article into
simpler terms to make yourself understand the basics of what this article
means. Another thing is that these advertisements are NOT stupid, if they
were they would not "brainwash" most of teen population. The
media does not need to take away the perfect image but it needs to tell
teens that they have an option. Human nature and power has revolved around
material things since the dawn of man it is not something americans have
created. Their have always been the perfect images but they have changed.
The perfect image is a role model and that is what is has been ever since
recently. So we do not necessarily need to take the perfect image out but
we need to change it into something good. Role models are what we look up
to and strive to be, so think about that before you blabber on about
something your minds do not have the ability to grasp.
Oct 10, 2009 4:48 PM
Guest :
-.- i'm 16, i'm stunned that any teen, or any person at all, would ever
fall for these stupid ads...I mean, who really thinks that buying the right
T-shirt or pair of pants is going to make them really
"cool?"...
Oct 27, 2009 11:18 AM
Guest :
teens shouldn't be influenced by the media. BE YOU! :)
