Advertising to Children

Advertising to Children

Kenyata Williams

Herzing University

Abstract

This week, we take a look at marketing and advertising, and see how it affects our ideas and the decisions that we make. And the end of chapter 10, two different authors give their perspectives on how we should deal with advertising, specifically as it relates to children: Margo Wootan in "Regulating Food Advertising for Children" and Robert Liodice in "Advertising and Freedom of Speech: Beware of the Food Nanny." This week, you are going to be responsible for taking what you have learned about advertising and applying it to one of these articles. Read both of the given articles, and choose one of them to read more carefully. Then, in a written assignment, use the ideas from this week and your own experience to answer the following question: Does the author make a good argument? Why or why not?

Children are one of the fastest-growing consumer groups in the United States and almost half of television advertising for children ages 6-11 is for food such as sugary cereals, candy, and fast food. Research suggests that by promoting nutritionally void and food high I caloric count, these ads may be contributing to our nations increased levels of childhood obesity (Boss, 2012). I believe that there should be a limit placed on these kinds of ads. Although I firmly believe that it is ultimately the parents’ responsibility to introduce their children to a healthy and nutritious diet, I also believe that advertisers have a responsibility to their consumers.

For my assignment this week, I chose to use the blog post by Robert Liodice entitled “Advertising and Freedom of Speech: Beware of the Food Nanny.” I chose to work with this article simply because I am tired of people hiding behind the First Amendment instead of taking responsibility for their actions. Liodice states that “without the free exchange of information, we limit the ability of Americans to be fully informed to make the choices...