Reference no: EM133597113
Case Study: Charged with developing a creative for a clearly defined target market: young children. Think it never happens? Actually, kids are a prime target for many advertisers.
Naturally, one of your challenges might be imagining how to do creative work that will resonate with a very young audience. But maybe there is a deeper issue: should kids ever be a target audience for ads of any kind?
From its inception, parents, regulators, and advocates have looked warily at television as a platform for advertising to kids. Until the Internet, TV was the one medium that offered advertisers a straight path to young hearts and minds. It could be argued that ads directed at youngsters are wasted because parents control the purse strings. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
A report published in 2012 by ad agency Digitas estimated that young children and tweens had purchasing power in the neighborhood of $1.2 trillion. That figure includes the money kids control for themselves as well as their ability to influence parents' purchases. The report suggests that 6 in 10 tweens have "substantially influenced" adult decisions about a car purchase! According to one expert, the minivan was created because children demanded more room. Then, when kids decided the vehicle was "uncool," their opinions helped to develop the SUV. Madison Avenue seems keenly aware of the power of these small "influencers," and as a result, kids see lots of commercials.
One study estimated that kids between 6 and 11 see up to 20,000 commercials every year-easy to do when that group spends close to 30 hours a week watching TV. Of course, it can be argued that parents play a primary role in regulating what children watch and consume. Still, against a tide of commercial messages, parents can't seem to get the upper hand. In response, the World Health Organization, focusing on one especially pernicious problem, childhood obesity, has recommended that advertisers reduce "food and beverage marketing directed at little children that is high in sugar, fat and sodium in order to help reduce the burden of obesity worldwide." In the United States, the FTC notes that since 1980, "childhood obesity rates have tripled among adolescents and doubled among younger children." While acknowledging that the causes of this health problem are complex, the agency concludes that "regardless of the causes, responsible marketing can play a positive role in improving children's diets and physical activity level."
Some have made the affirmative case for ads directed at kids. Among the most common arguments is that child-oriented programming on nonpublic stations might not exist if ad revenues dried up-a point that is both true and insufficient. Between an advertising ban and an all-out attempt to persuade youngsters to buy or pester their parents is a middle ground, one that acknowledges a role for advertisers to play in protecting kids.
One of the issues you will face as a creative is thinking through your own values toward the ads you create and the people you affect. In the case of advertising to children, knowing your own values and principles should come before you create your first ad.
Questions:
1.Should advertising directed to kids be banned entirely? Why or why not?
2.If ads to kids are not banned outright, what might responsible advertising look like?
3.Many argue that it is up to parents to determine what their kids watch, not regulators or content creators. How would you evaluate that argument?