Controversial Commercials

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at advertisers, commercials and the effect and influence that they have on the young generation. According to the paper, children are the most vulnerable group of viewers, too young to be able to distinguish between right and wrong.

From the Paper:

"It is also important to mention here that children are more attracted to commercials than older people. They are less likely to enjoy the actual program and may wait for commercials because the jingles, the colorful sequences and the fast action are some of the things that they find far more engrossing than regular programs. Thus they typically are more attraction to advertising (Alexander & Morrison, 1995). We must also understand that the fact that children love advertisements more is evident from the pace and style of some actual programs which appear like commercials to attract children attention. This was the main factor in the development of different kind of pace and style in children's program 'Sesame Street' (Lesser, 1974). Since children also watch television more often than viewers between the ages of 18-34, it means they are more likely to be influenced by what they watch. An average American child is likely to be exposed to 600,000 television commercials during their first 20 years (Black, 1997)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: Social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• Black, E. (1997, October 6). TV 101: Teaching kids how to watch wisely. Minneapolis Star Tribune, pp. A1, A10.
• Danitz, T. (2000, October 29). Bullying linked to school shootings. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p. A-10.
• Geen, R. (1994). Television and aggression: Recent developments in research and theory. In D. Zillman, J. Bryant, & A. Huston (Eds.), Media, children, and the family (pp.151-162). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

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