“Use & Abuse of Children in Advertising: The Legal Perspective”

1. 1
A
Dissertation on
“Use & Abuse of Children in Advertising: The Legal Perspective”
By
Shashikant Bhagat
Nalsar Pro ID No. MLH39_09
A Project Paper Submitted in Partial fulfillment of P.G. Diploma in
Media Laws for Module – IV (Advertisement & Law)
January 2010
Nalsar University of Law (Nalsar Pro), Hyderabad

2. 1
Table of Contents
Sr. Heading Page
No. No.
01. Introduction: - 3-5
02 Parental Influence 6-7
03. Advertising in Different Media 8-11
04. Marketing Techniques 12-12
05. Specific Health Related Areas of 13-16
Concern – Facts & Cases
06. Advertising in Schools 17-17
07. Public Perception 18-24
08. Conclusion 25-25
09. Bibliography 26-26

3. 1
INTRODUCTION

4. 1
Introduction
Advertising is a pervasive influence on children and adolescents. Young
people exposed to advertising on the Internet, in magazines, and in schools. This
exposure may contribute significantly to childhood and adolescent obesity, poor
nutrition, and cigarette and alcohol use. Media education has been shown to be
effective in mitigating some of the negative effects of advertising on children and
adolescents.
From a child’s point of view, what is the purpose of TV advertising? Is
advertising on TV done to give actors the opportunity to take a rest or practice
their lines? Or is it done to make people buy things? Furthermore, is the main
difference between programs and commercials that commercials are for real,
whereas programs are not, or that programs are for kids and commercials for
adults? As proved in several cases.
Some children are able to distinguish between programs and commercials
and are aware of the intent of TV advertising, whereas others are not. There is a
general concern of parents and other societal actors, that TV advertising may
have a negative, intended or unintended, influence on children Specifically, TV
advertising may lead a child to select material objects over more socially oriented
alternatives, potentially increase parent-child conflict and may lead to a more
disappointed, unhappier child as proved by Goldberg and
Gom in1978.
One of the reasons behind this parental concern is that children can be
exploited more easily if they do not understand the differences between
television programming and commercials and if they do not know the selling
intent of commercials. If children understand the intention of commercials and
are able to distinguish them from programs, however, the potential effect of
advertising might be reduced. First, understanding of TV advertising allows
children to use cognitive defenses, such as producing counter arguments and
alternative situations.
Secondly, the recognition of the difference between programs and
commercials allows them to avoid the ‘break’ or commercials by switching to
another channel. Hence, whether or not children have an understanding of TV
advertising is an important issue to investigate, both from the parent’s standpoint
as understanding may prevent negative influences on the well-being of their
children, and from the advertisers’ standpoint as it will alter the effectiveness of
their TV commercials.

5. 1
However one must understand and realize by now that it is not only about the
average child viewer that we are concerned about but also the strategies used by
the advertiser and the portrayal of children in these advertisements and the final
message they are conveying.
On the issue several European countries forbid or severely curtail advertising
to children; in the United States, on the other hand, selling to children is simply
“business as usual.”
1. The average young person views more than 3000 ads per day on
television (TV) on the Internet, on billboards, and in magazines.
2. Increasingly, advertisers are targeting younger and younger children in an
effort to establish “brand-name preference” at as early an age as possible.
3. This targeting occurs because advertising is a $250 billion a year industry
with 9, 00,000 brands to sell and children and adolescents are attractive
consumers. Teenagers globally spend $155 billion a year, children
younger than 12 years spend another $25 billion and both groups also
influence perhaps another $200 billion of their parents’ spending per year.
4. Increasingly, advertisers are seeking to find new and creative ways of
targeting young consumers via the Internet, in schools.
Children’s understanding of TV advertising can be decomposed into:
1) Their ability to distinguish between programs and commercials.
2) Their ability to comprehend the selling intent of advertising.
To some extent, these two components are related in a hierarchical manner, as
comprehension of the selling intent of advertising implies that one is aware of a
certain difference between commercials and programs, whereas the opposite
does not necessarily hold. It has been shown that most children aged between 5
and 8 years can discriminate between programs and commercials and/or
comprehend the purpose of the commercials.

6. 1
Parental influence
One must consider this very important factor as children unlike adults don’t
have the ability to make decisions and thus have to generally obey and take their
parents’ stand on several issues.
This could be due to the fact that children look up to their parents and sub-
consciously mimic their lifestyles, habits and several other such tendencies and
also imbibe a similar mind-set as to that of their parents as circumstances have
proven to be severe conditioners in such situations
Parents are generally concerned about the (social) well-being of their
children. This well-being, from the parental point of view, might be adversely
affected by marketing effort directed at their children.
In particular, TV advertising on food causes parental concern. In response,
parents may try to mediate and control their children’s TV viewing and/or discuss
advertising content and intent with their children. Parental control of TV viewing is
expected to lower the number of hours a child watches TV and thereby the
cumulative experience a child has with TV advertising, which in turn might have a
negative effect on the child’s understanding of TV advertising.
This way, as intended by the parents, control of TV viewing may lower the
total effect of TV advertising on the child, but it may also have the opposite effect.
Frequent parent-child interaction on TV advertising will most likely not have an
effect on the number of hours a child watches TV, but it may have a positive
effect on a child’s understanding of TV advertising. Evidence of the effectiveness
of these attempts to lower the total influence of TV advertising on the child is
somewhat mixed, but most studies find no or rather small effects of parental
concern.
Research has also shown that children younger than 8 years of age are
cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising. They do not
understand the notion of intent to sell and frequently accept advertising claims at
face value. In other words they are unable to understand the persuasive factor in
the advertisement as well as accept all claims in the advertisements to be true
thereby accepting the advertisers’ word to be true and absolute.
In fact, in the late 1970s, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United
States of America held hearings, re-viewed the existing research, and came to
the conclusion that it was unfair and deceptive to advertise to children younger
than 6 years. What kept the FTC from banning such ads was that it was thought
to be impractical to implement such a ban.

7. 1
However, some Western countries have done exactly that: Sweden and
Norway forbid all advertising directed at children younger than 12 years, Greece
bans toy advertising until after 10 PM, and Denmark and Belgium severely
restrict advertising aimed at children.
But, in India one must note that there’s no such restrict on advertisers as
there’s the lack of presence of an ‘ombudsman’ which is an unbiased and
detached party with the sole purpose of regulation of material broadcasted.
Such organizations are:
1. FCC – U.S.A
2. OfCom – Office of Communication – United Kingdom
But, in India the advertisers have a self regulatory body called the
Advertising Agency Association of India one must however note that such
an organization would never hurt its chances and thus would never pass
any such legislation which would impede the message it delivers.

8. 1
ADVERTISING IN DIFFERENT MEDIA
Television
Children and adolescents view 40,000 ads per year on TV alone. This
occurs despite the fact that the Children’s Television Act of 1990 (Pub L No.
101– 437) limits advertising on children’s programming to 10.5 minutes per hour
on weekends and 12 minutes per hour on weekdays.
However, much of children’s viewing occurs during prime time, which
features nearly 16 minutes per hour of advertising. A 30-second advertisement
during an ODI match played by India now costs about Rs. 2 Cr. but reaches
about 8-10 crore people. Similarly, an ad during the Indian Premier League costs
even higher because of the popularity of the 20-twenty format and the huge
audience willing to watch these matches. An ad on Set Max during IPL-II cost
about Rs 6 Cr.
The main reason for the appeal of this medium is the diverse nature of its
availability. The number of channels and the genre they cater to is also a major
concern. If one were to view the Cartoon Network (a part of Turner Broadcasting
Service (TBS); channel with highest TRP ratings among kids’ channels) in a day
then one would note the following ads for sure:
1. Funskool, Mattel and Hasbro urging kids to buy their toys and
stimulating them with attractive graphics and other scenarios.
2. McDonalds advertising their Happy Meal and trying to lure kids with
promises for free toys.
3. Surf and Tide explaining the kids to dirty their clothes and justifying it to
them and thus pushing their products in the way.
4. Chocolate manufacturing firms such as Cadbury, Nestle and
Hershey’s, trying to push their products.
5. Ads for clothing brands like Gini & Joni Kids collection, Weekender kids
and several more.

9. 1
Movies
An investigation found that violent movies, music, and video games have
been intentionally marketed to children and adolescents. Although movie
theaters have agreed not to show trailers for A-rated movies before U and U/A
rated movies in response to the release of the report, children continue to see
advertising for violent media in other venues.
For instance, M-rated video games (Mature), which according to the
gaming industry’s own rating system are not recommended for children younger
than 17 years, are frequently advertised in movie theaters, video game
magazines, and publications with high youth readership.
Also, movies targeted at children often prominently feature brand-name
products and fast food restaurants. In 1997–1998, 8 alcohol companies placed
products in 233 motion pictures and in 1 episode or more of 181 TV series.
For instance one must note the major trend in films to endorse brands, the
soft drink drunk by the heroine in the teen-targeted movie Mera Pehla Pehla Pyar
(MP3) was Pepsi or Shah Rukh Khan drove a Bentley in the movie Billu (Barber)
or Hrithik Roshan drinking Bournvita in Krrish and Koi Mil Gaya clearly with an
aim to influence the young minds.

10. 1
Print Media
According to the RNI there are more than 50 magazines in India that are
now targeted at children and the youth. Young people see 45% more beer ads
and 27% more ads for hard liquor in teen magazines than adults do in their
magazines globally. Despite the government's agreement with the tobacco
industry in 1998, surrogate advertising of tobacco firms in the youth-oriented
magazines amounted to $217 million in 2009.
One must realize that the youth are very impressionable when it comes to
perceiving messages broadcast via a particular medium and thus find magazines
and comics very trustworthy at their age. Ads of chocolates, confectionery items,
sweets, toys, cartoons and other children entertainment industry related
companies find such magazines to be an ideal place for advertising.
The development era has ensured that today’s children don’t read mere
magazines like Champak or Chandamama or comics like Chacha Chaudry but
are now exposed to a whole set of youth magazines like Chatterbox, Just
another Magazine (JAM), Gokulam and to comics like Tinkle digest, Archie
Comics, and the whole International range of comics from Detective Comics (DC)
and Marvel and these publications are now littered with ads and other such
promotional material.
With the entry of computer help and gaming magazines in India like PC
Quest, Game Force, Computers @ Home and Digit the publications have moved
even to the digital platforms of their readers homes. Movie promos, free software
demos and demos of games are doled out for free on complementary CDs and
DVDs which children are excited to exercise and later purchase.

11. 1
The Internet
An increasing number of Web sites try to entice children and teenagers to
make direct sales. Teenagers account for more than $1 billion in e-commerce
dollars, and the industry spent $21.6 million on Internet banner ads alone in
2002.
More than 100 commercial Web sites promote alcohol products. The
content of these sites varies widely, from little more than basic brand information
to chat rooms, “virtual bars,” drink recipes, games, contests, and merchandise
catalogues.
Many of these sites use slick promotional techniques to target young
people. In 1998, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (Pub L No. 105–
277) was passed, which mandates that commercial Web sites cannot knowingly
collect information from children younger than 13 years. These sites are required
to provide notice on the site to parents about their collection, use, and disclosure
of children’s personal information and must obtain “verifiable parental consent”
before collecting, using, or disclosing this information.
With the advent of networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Orkut,
MySpace and blogging websites like Blogger, BlogSpot and several other such
interactive sites there has been an astronomical rise in the time spent by children
over the net. Consequently this has become an exciting proposition for
advertisers and as a result the number of specific ads has increased over the last
decade.
The specific ads era, ushered in by Google ensures that only ads of items
you are interested in, appear on display thus clearly implying that it becomes
increasingly difficult for kids to separate information from advertisements and so
on.
MARKETING TECHNIQUES

12. 1
Advertisers have traditionally used techniques to which children and
adolescents are more susceptible, such as product placements in movies and TV
shows, tie ins between movies and fast food restaurants, 18 tie ins between TV
shows and toy action figures or other products, 7 kids’ clubs that are linked to
popular shows, and celebrity endorsements.
Cellular phones are currently being marketed to 6- to 12-year-olds, with
the potential for directing specific advertisers to children and preteens. Coca-
Cola reportedly paid Warner Bros. Studios $150 million for the global marketing
rights to the movie “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” and nearly 20% of
fast food restaurant ads now mention a toy premium in their ads.
Certain tie-in products may be inappropriate for children (e.g., action
figures from the World Wrestling Federation or an action doll that mutters
profanities from an R-rated Austin Powers movie). Children’s advertising
protections will need to be updated for digital TV, which is in place today.
In the near future, children watching a TV program will be able to click an
on-screen link and go to a Web site during the program. Interactive games and
promotions on digital TV will have the ability to lure children away from regular
programming, encouraging them to spend a long time in an environment that
lacks clear separation between content and advertising.
Interactive technology may also allow advertisers to collect vast amounts
of information about children’s viewing habits and preferences and target them
on the basis of that information. Along with this is the fear of using digital
environment to create virtual reality the digital computer and online games
created have transformed the entire scene. It has become nearly impossible to
separate children from such games as they begin to be more steeped in virtual
reality than real existence.

13. 1
SPECIFIC HEALTH-RELATED AREAS OF CONCERN
Tobacco Advertising
Tobacco manufacturers spend $30 million/day ($11.2billion/year) on
advertising and promotion. Exposure to tobacco advertising may be a bigger risk
factor than having family members and peers who smoke and can even
undermine the effect of strong parenting practices.
Two unique and large longitudinal studies have found that approximately
one third of all adolescent smoking can be attributed to tobacco advertising and
promotions. In addition, more than 20 studies have found that children exposed
to cigarette ads or promotions are more likely to become smokers themselves.
Recent evidence has emerged that tobacco companies have specifically
targeted teenagers as young as 13 years of age. However, in India there has
been a blanket ban on cigarette advertising but the concept of surrogate
advertising has been potent enough in conveying the message to the people at
large.
ITC doesn’t advertise its cigarettes but Wills club lifestyle and several
other such named ITC products only arouse the child’s curiosity and thus make
him find out that it is a cigarette manufacturer. Soon, the very purpose of the ban
on cigarette smoking is defeated as the public though not viewing these ads but
is aware of similar named products and thus is also aware of the other products.
Alcohol Advertising
Alcohol manufacturers spend $5.7 billion/year on advertising and
promotion. Young people typically view 2000 beer and wine commercials

14. 1
annually, with most of the ads concentrated in sports programming. During prime
time, only 1 alcohol ad appears every 4 hours.
Yet, in sports programming, the frequency increases to 2.4 ads per hour.
Research has found that adolescent drinkers are more likely to have been
exposed to alcohol advertising. Given that children begin making decisions about
alcohol at an early age—probably during high school exposure to beer
commercials represents a significant risk factor.
The same surrogate advertising scenario is of major concern in this scene
too as people must note and observe that liquor manufacturers especially the UB
group advertises only soda and non-alcoholic beverages but so strategically that
the viewer is aware of the alcoholic products they manufacture.
In the popular IPL there’s even a team called the Royal Challengers
Bangalore clearly informing the public that the only thing actually royal about
them is the beverage manufactured by their team owner ‘Royal Challenge’.
Drug Advertising
“Just Say No” as a message to teenagers about drugs seems doomed to
failure given that $11 billion every year is spent on cigarette advertising, $5.7
billion per year is spent on alcohol advertising, and nearly $4 billion per year is
spent on prescription drug advertising.
Drug companies now spend more than twice as much on marketing as
they do on research and development. The top 10 drug companies made a total
profit of $57.9 billion in 2008-09, more than the other 490 companies in the
Fortune 500 combined.
Is such advertising effective? A recent survey of physicians found that
92% of patients had requested an advertised drug. In addition, children and
teenagers may get the message that there is a drug available to cure all ills and
heal all pain, a drug for every occasion (including sexual intercourse).
Food Advertising and Obesity
Advertisers spend more than $2.5 billion/year to promote restaurants and
another $2 billion to promote food products. On TV, of the estimated 40 000 ads per

15. 1
year that young people see, half are for food, especially sugared cereals and high-
calorie snacks.
Healthy foods are advertised less than 3% of the time; children rarely see a
food advertisement for broccoli. Increasingly, fast food conglomerates are using toy
tie-ins with major children’s motion pictures to try to attract young people. Nearly
20% of fast food ads now mention a toy premium in their commercials.
Several studies document that young children request more junk food
(defined as foods with high-caloric density but very low nutrient density) after viewing
commercials. In a particular, earlier study, the amount of TV viewed per week
correlated with requests for specific foods and with caloric intake.
At the same time, advertising healthy foods has been shown to increase
wholesome eating in children as young as 3 to 6 years of age.
Sex in Advertising
Sex is used in commercials to sell everything from beer to shampoo to
cars. New research is showing that teenagers’ exposure to sexual content in the
media maybe responsible for earlier onset of sexual intercourse or other sexual
related activities.
What is increasingly apparent is the discrepancy between the abundance
of advertising of products for erectile dysfunction (ED), (between January and
October, 2004, drug companies spent $343 million advertising Viagra, Levitra,
and Cialis) and the rise in advertising for birth control products or emergency
contraceptives like i-pill on the major TV networks.

16. 1
This instills a false sense of security in minds of the young who feel their
sexual activities will be of no consequence as they would be covered up by these
drugs which is consequentially leading to a morally challenged youth in the world.
Ads for ED drugs give children and teens inappropriate messages about
sex and sexuality at a time when they are not being taught sex education in
school. Research has definitively found that giving teenagers increased access
to birth control through advertising does make them sexually active at a younger
age.
One must note that these ads above discussed, though are not broadcast
on television or national media in India however make it in to India via spam in e-
mail. The number of ads in a youth’s inbox for ED drugs is huge and children
have constantly been traumatized across the country for having what they feel
are ‘inadequate organ sizes’.
These teens are at a confusing stage in their life cycle totally unaware of
their new bodily trends and are further surprised and stressed at such sort of
information as they are particularly in India devoid and starved of any form of
sexual education or instruction.
Global advertising also frequently uses female models that are anorectic in
appearance and, thus, may contribute to the development of a distorted body
self-image and abnormal eating behaviors in young girls.
This is also a major concern further because people globally are surprised
with the portrayal of women as mere objects of sexual fantasy and thus their
portrayal in poor light is a major problem as these ads lead a child to feel that
woman are no humans but objects to fulfill one’s needs!
ADVERTISING IN SCHOOLS

17. 1
Advertisers have slowly but steadily infiltrated school systems around the
country. The “3 Rs” have now become the “4 Rs,” with the fourth R being
“retail.”Ads are now appearing on school buses, in gymnasiums, on book covers,
and even in bathroom stalls.
More than 200 school districts in the US have signed exclusive contracts
with soft drink companies. These agreements specify the number and placement
of soda-vending machines, which is ironic given that schools risk losing federal
subsidies for their free breakfast and lunch programs if they serve soda in their
cafeterias.
In addition, there are more than 4500 Pizza Hut chains and 3000 Taco Bell
chains in school cafeterias in the US. However the scenario in India is different
but in urban schools one can find such machines of Horlicks, Bournvita and
Boost installed at schools and also the new trend of fast food joints on school
premises has been a major concern.
Recently, posh urban schools across the country have had retail outlets of
Café Coffee Day and Barista installed in their premises clearly indicating that
students in school are no longer safe from blatant consumerism.
School advertising also appears under the guise of educational TV:
Channel One. Currently available in 12 000 schools across the world, Channel
One consists of 10 minutes of current-events programming and 2 minutes of
commercials.
Advertisers pay $200 000 for advertising time and the opportunity to target
40% of the world’s teenagers for 30 seconds. According to a recent UN report,
Channel One now plays in 25% of the World’s middle and high schools and
generates profits estimated at $100 million annually.
Public Perception

18. 1
This article was present on the worldwide web and is an article which duly
summarizes our analysis:
Children, Advertising & Target: Why Kids Want So Much
This item was written by Savita Iyer-Ahrestani. a freelance financial journalist
from The Netherlands who blogs for Working Parents.
Almost all the American parents I have met while living overseas say that the
two things they miss most about the States are online shopping and Target
(TGT), which in our times have become pretty much one and the same thing.
In the four years that I have lived outside the US, I, too, have missed the
convenience of Target and its panoply of both store and online choices. But like
every other American expat parent I’ve met, I also have a real fear of returning to
that world of temptation, for I remember all too well setting out on shopping trips
to buy, say, a pack of batteries, and returning home with all manner of things I
had no intention of getting in the first place.
The greatest fear I and the fellow Americans I’ve met overseas share is the
impact of the easy consumer culture that Target et. al. stand for on our children.
Living overseas—particularly in The Netherlands, which is a very basic, no-frills-
at-all kind of place—our kids have been shielded from the “I wants” and “I needs”
that the world (myself included) associates with America. How easily can it
ensnare these kids once they get back to the States?
I asked Allison Pugh, assistant professor of sociology at the University of
Virginia and author of “Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children and Consumer
Culture,” what advice she had for me, taking my two tabula rasa children—aged
eight and five and with no recollection of America (they left the US in 2005)—
back to New Jersey in a couple of months. “Good luck,” she said with a laugh.
I told her my favorite European vs. American story: A French grandmother I
know went to the States for her granddaughter’s (whose father is American)
birthday. As the French and many other European grandparents do, she took
one very exquisite and quite expensive dress for the little girl. But it was
completely overshadowed by the American grandmother and her armfuls of gifts,
tossed into a corner without a second glance. The French grandmother said she
had never felt so embarrassed in her life.

19. 1
“I’m quite frightened about the onslaught of mass consumerism-even though
there’s a recession, I still feel that American children want and get so much more
than children I have seen in Europe,” I told Pugh. “Should I be afraid of this?”
Yes, she says, there is definitely something to be scared of. The whopping
$17 billion that’s spent on advertising geared specifically toward children—the
giant monster that American parents I’ve had discussions with overseas are
really afraid of—is certainly something to fear (I don’t think I have seen ads for
kids stuff on Dutch TV, come to think of it). But although advertising certainly
fuels kids’ “needs” and “wants,” Allison argues that it can’t be held wholly
responsible for the impact of consumer culture on children.
In her book—based on her doctoral dissertation—Pugh says that children’s
desires stem less from striving for status or falling victim to advertising than from
their longing to join the “conversation” at school or in the neighborhood. In turn,
parents answer this yearning to belong by buying the particular goods and
experiences that act as “passports” in children’s social worlds, because they
empathize with their children’s fear of being different from their peers. They want
their kids to belong, and this continues even under financial duress. Pugh studied
children and parents from different socio-economic classes and found this
pattern to be the same.
It’s okay to give into the “conversation” every now and then. Pugh says, and
as a parent bringing my kids to a new place, I would be inclined to want to help
them belong to that place as much as I can. But Pugh also says that she’s “quite
pessimistic about individual kids’ abilities to withstand the pressures and fight
against materialism and handle their differences.”
Parents are afraid of their children being excluded and left out, but ultimately
“the solution will come from us not just talking the talk and walking the walk about
difference, but actually celebrating it, in terms of ethnicity, social class, and all
kinds of other differences,” Pugh says.
Many middle-class American parents I’ve met like to say they’re not
materialistic, that they don’t buy their children anything. Yet when you walk into
kids’ bedrooms they’re often filled to the brim—with stuff that’s rarely even
touched. I find this—which Pugh says is “the honorable thing to say”—more
pronounced among Americans than any other race I’ve met, so despite my
discussion with her, I am still nervous about my childrens’ return to the US.

20. 1
As, we can summaries from the article that branding and advertising over
the media has created a vicious cycle as a human being’s wants never end.
This further creates an impressionable perception in the eyes of the viewer
especially if he has been brought up in those circumstances.
No, wonder the global recession happened in America not because of
poor accounting or banking policies but because of the inability of the average
US citizen to save. He has forgotten saving and lives on credit all thanks to
the massive consumerism cycle that has been started and will end only when
the entire country bankrupts or the cycle is broken.
This becomes further important to us as our policymakers have
increasingly mimicked the American success model and no wonder our
children are no longer far behind and could soon end up the same way.
Thus it is essential to note that we must prevent our children’s minds from
being addled and destroyed by a massive attack of consumerism.

21. 1
The second article to be now discussed will analyse the paradigm shift in
the mindset of the average American.
The article is by, Rebecca Clay a reporter for the Washington Post
Ever since he first started practicing, Berkeley, Calif., psychologist Allen D.
Kanner, PhD, has been asking his younger clients what they wanted to do when
they grew up. The answer used to be "nurse," "astronaut" or some other
occupation with intrinsic appeal.
Today the answer is more likely to be "make money." For Kanner, one
explanation for that shift can be found in advertising."Advertising is a massive,
multi-million dollar project that's having an enormous impact on child
development," says Kanner, who is also an associate faculty member at a clinical
psychology training program called the Wright Institute. "The sheer volume of
advertising is growing rapidly and invading new areas of childhood, like our
schools."
According to Kanner, the result is not only an epidemic of materialistic values
among children, but also something he calls "narcissistic wounding" of children.
Thanks to advertising, he says, children have become convinced that they're
inferior if they don't have an endless array of new products.
Now Kanner and several colleagues are up-in-arms about psychologists and
others who are using psychological knowledge to help marketers target children
more effectively. They're outraged that psychologists and others are revealing
such tidbits as why 3- to 7-year-olds gravitate toward toys that transform
themselves into something else and why 8- to 12-year-olds love to collect things.
Last fall, Kanner and a group of 59 other psychologists and psychiatrists sent a
controversial letter protesting psychologists' involvement to APA.
In response, at its June meeting, APA's Board of Directors acted on a
recommendation from the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the
Public Interest and approved the creation of a task force to study the issue. The
task force will examine the research on advertising's impact on children and their
families and develop a research agenda. The group will look at the role
psychologists play in what some consider the exploitation of children and
consider how psychology can help minimize advertising's harmful effects and
maximize its positive effects.

22. 1
The group will also explore implications for public policy. Task force members
will be chosen in consultation with Div. 37 (Child, Youth and Family Services)
and other relevant divisions. Unethical practices?
The letter protesting psychologists' involvement in children's advertising was
written by Commercial Alert, a Washington, D.C., advocacy organization. The
letter calls marketing to children a violation of APA's mission of mitigating human
suffering, improving the condition of both individuals and society, and helping the
public develop informed judgments.
Urging APA to challenge what it calls an "abuse of psychological knowledge,"
the letter asks APA to: Issue a formal, public statement denouncing the use of
psychological principles in marketing to children.
Amend APA's Ethics Code to limit psychologists' use of their knowledge and
skills to observe and study, mislead or exploit children for commercial purposes.
Launch an ongoing campaign to investigate the use of psychological research in
marketing to children, publish an evaluation of the ethics of such use, and
promote strategies to protect children against commercial exploitation by
psychologists and others using psychological principles.
"The information psychologists are giving to advertisers is being used to
increase profits rather than help children," says Kanner, who helped collect
signatures for the letter. "The whole enterprise of advertising is about creating
insecure people who believe they need to buy things to be happy. I don't think
most psychologists would believe that's a good thing. There's an inherent conflict
of interest."
Advertisers' efforts seem to work. According to marketing expert James U.
McNeal, PhD, author of "The Kids Market: Myths and Realities" (Paramount
Market Publishing, 1999), children under 12 already spend a whopping $28
billion a year. Teen-agers spend $100 billion. Children also influence another
$249 billion spent by their parents.
The effect this rampant consumerism has on children is still unknown, says
Kanner. In an informal literature review, he found many studies about how to
make effective ads but not a single study addressing ads' impact on children.
Instead, he points to research done by Tim Kasser, PhD, an assistant professor
of psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. In a series of studies, Kasser has
found that people who strongly value wealth and related traits tend to have
higher levels of distress and lower levels of well-being, worse relationships and
less connection to their communities.

23. 1
"Psychologists who help advertisers are essentially helping them manipulate
children to believe in the capitalistic message, when all the evidence shows that
believing in that message is bad for people," says Kasser. "That's unethical."
Driving out psychologists
Psychologists who help companies reach children don't agree. Take Whiton
S. Paine, PhD, an assistant professor of business studies at Richard Stockton
College in Pomona, N.J. As principal of a Philadelphia consulting firm called
Kid2Kid, Paine helps Fortune 500 companies market to children.
Paine has no problem with launching a dialogue about psychologists' ethical
responsibilities or creating standards similar to ones used in Canada and Europe
to protect children from commercial exploitation. Such activities will actually help
his business, he says, by giving him leverage when clients want to do something
that would inadvertently harm children. What Paine does have a problem with is
driving psychologists out of the business.
"If you remove ethical psychologists from the decision-making process in an
ad's creation, who's left?" he asks. "People who have a lot less sensitivity to the
unique vulnerabilities of children."Others who have read the proposal point out
that psychological principles are hardly confidential.
"We can't stop alcohol or tobacco companies from using the basic research
findings and theories found in textbooks and academic journals," says Curtis P.
Haugtvedt, PhD, immediate past president of Div. 23 (Consumer Psychology)
and an associate professor of marketing at Ohio State University in Columbus.
"The same issue exists for all sciences: the information is available in public
libraries."
The problem with trying to regulate the use of psychological principles is that
"people acting in ways psychologists find objectionable probably aren't members
of APA anyway," says Haugtvedt, who received a copy of the Commercial Alert
letter. He believes that having general guidelines as to appropriate uses and
areas of concern would be beneficial to all parties.
Daniel S. Acuff, PhD, for example, draws on the child development
courses he took during his graduate schooling in education to advise such

24. 1
clients as Disney, Hasbro and Kraft. His book "What Kids Buy and Why: The
Psychology of Marketing to Kids" (Free Press, 1997) draws on child
development research to show product developers and marketers how to
reach children more effectively.
To Acuff, the letter to APA is not only an "unconstitutional" attempt to limit how
professionals make their living but also a misguided overgeneralization.
Since Acuff and his partner started their business in 1979, they have had a
policy guiding their choice of projects. As a result, they turn down assignments
dealing with violent video games, action figures armed with weapons and other
products they believe are bad for children. Their work focuses instead on
products that they consider either good for children or neutral, such as snacks
and sugary foods parents can use as special treats. The letter to APA fails to
acknowledge that psychological principles can be used for good as well as bad,
he says.
"I don't agree with black-and-white thinking," says Acuff, president of Youth
Market Systems Consulting in Sherman Oaks, Calif. "Psychology in itself is
neither good nor bad. It's just a tool like anything else."
This article also further discusses the various issues and clearly indicates that
USA the pinnacle of global consumerism and the pioneer in mass advertising is
now paying the consequences for having followed too much of it. India must take
cue from it and formulate a policy to restrict Child advertising before we face an
entire generation of people who would spend a huge amount for a luxury car
without thinking about the practicality of tomorrow’s dinner.
CONCLUSIONS

25. 1
Clearly, advertising represents “big business” in the Global scenario, and
can have a significant effect on young people. Unlike free speech, commercial
speech does not enjoy the same protections under the First Amendment of the
Constitution.
Advertisements can be restricted or even banned if there is a significant
public health risk. Cigarette advertising and alcohol advertising would seem to fall
squarely into this category, and ads for junk food could easily be restricted.
One solution that is noncontroversial and would be easy to implement is to
educate children and teenagers about the effects of advertising—media literacy.
Curricula have been developed that teach young people to become critical
viewers of media in all of its forms, including advertising.
Media education seems to be protective in mitigating harmful effects of
media, including the effects of cigarette, alcohol, and food advertising.
Bibliography: -

26. 1
i) www.tcp.in
ii) www.doctorndtv.com
iii) www.iglhrc.org
iv) www.christianlaw.org
v) www.davidmacd.com
vi) www.indianngos.com
vii) www.wikipedia.com
viii) www.dogpile.com
ix) www.google.com