Nancy Rodriguez
May 23, 2013
Children and Subliminal Messages in the Media
According to Advertising Today, Over 15 billion a year is spent in advertisements directed to children in the U.S. (Berger, 2001). Parents are often not aware that their children are direct targets of the advertising industry. This is an issue because, the average child in America watches over 40 thousand television commercials in a year, or over 100 a day (Egendorf, 2006). Subliminal messages is a term that defines any word, image, or sound that is not perceived within the normal range of consciousness, but that makes an impression on the mind according to (Treimer and Simonson, 2001). Subliminal messages in the media are harmful to children’s behaviors, health and perception of gender.
The behaviors that children learn through subliminal messages can be interpreted by observational learning. Albert Bandura is a psychologist who had a theory that stated that behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning. He conducted an experiment to prove that children learn from the things shown to them like the subliminal messages shown to them in the media. In this experiment “Bandura arranged for 24 boys and girls to watch a male or female model behaving aggressively towards a toy called a ‘Bobo doll’. The adults attacked the Bobo doll in a distinctive manner they used a hammer in some cases, and in others threw the doll in the air and shouted “Pow, Boom” (McLeod, 2001). The results of his experiment demonstrated that “children who observed the aggressive models made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups”. This proves just how children can be taught to behave in an aggressive way through observational learning there needs to be something done to change the subliminal messages presented to them. According to Children as Consumers “ In a national survey, more than half of the children who responded reported that buying certain advertised products made them feel better about themselves” (Global Issues, 2010). Advertisements have made it clear that children should be taught that if they are not purchasing a product advertised that they are missing out on the feeling all the other children are getting when they buy the products shown to make other children happy.
The media industry does not only target the behavior of children but also the child’s health. According to Pediatrics “More than 80% of all advertisements in children’s programming are for fast foods or snacks, and for every hour that children watch TV, they see an estimated 11 food advertisements.” This means that if the majority of the subliminal messages advertised is primarily promoting fast food eating it will come with unhealthy consequences such as obesity. The media’s subliminal influence of bad health habits is not just impacting the child now but it is also influencing the health of the parents. According to pediatrics “Research results clearly indicate that advertising is effective in getting younger children to request more high-fat/low –nutrition food to attempt to influence their parents.”(Jordan and Strasburger and Kramer-Golinkoff, 2008). The media not only advertises bad food choices but it also does not help promote a healthy diet for children who might already have obesity or another type of health issue. Pediatrics said “Nearly 9000 food ads found that young people see an average of twelve to twenty one food ads per day, for a total of 4400 to 7600 ads per year, yet they see fewer than 165 ads that promote fitness or good nutrition.” This shows how the media uses food to give children this allusion that fast food is so delectable and it is better than health food because, you can “have it your way” as long as “you're loving it”. The media has a good way of indulging children their way by showing children their favorite characters in their TV shows when they have their next visit to McDonald’s or Burger King or any other sort of fast food industry. If the health of the children of the future is not enough to start making a change than what is?
For many years now the media has focused its attention to both the female and male gender roles in society. According to Springer Science “Gender-role portrayals in advertising are influential in society because they can perpetuate stereotypes, and they can present behavioral norms for males and females.” With this being stated the children of the future will not even get their opportunity to set roles for themselves of what a woman or man is because the subliminal messages in our advertisement have already set that image up for them. Stated in Springer “Women have historically been underrepresented in advertising as compared with men further, women are often featured in advertisements as subordinate, as dependent on or subservient to men, and sex objects or decorations. This illustrates how the subliminal messages in the media portray women to be seen as decorations and that they will not be anything other than that and dependent on a man for the rest of her life. Is that really what we want adolescent girl minds to know at the age of 5 for the rest of the advertising time? Springer mentioned “Advertisers believe that male voices are perceived as more convincing, credible, and authoritarian than female voices.” (Furnham and Farragher, 2000). Is this the image that we want to give to little boys that they are suppose to be convincing and that they are stronger than a women based on voice?
The advertising industry has obviously focused it attention to its younger audience. An audience that at their earliest years of development have no consciousness that what the media is presenting to them that will later be what they reference to when they want to know how to see their gender roles, behaviors and what they want to eat. Our media today is well aware of its impact it has on our younger generations and it needs to make better decisions on what their advertisements are saying to children. This issue of subliminal messages in the media matters, because if there were no correlations between the advertisement industry and the actions and behaviors of humans it would not need a solution or call to action.
The first call to action that needs to be done is with the parents. Parents need to start to limit the amount of television their children are watching. Also parents need to monitor the types of things that their children are exposed to in the media. The responsibility of the children's well being does not only rely on the parents but as well on the government. If the advertisement industry is not willing to promote a good environment for children there needs to be laws made that directly target how and what types of advertisements can be directed to children. There are some laws regarding children and the advertising industry but it still is not enough. One of the current things being done to help solve this problem is the FTC. The FTC, The Federal Trade Commission, is a government entity that focuses on protecting consumers from deceptive and unfair advertising and marketing practices that cause health concerns and safety concerns. The Federal Trade Commission claims “A portion of this division's services are dedicated to monitoring and stopping fraudulent alcohol, tobacco, violent entertainment, and food advertising practices that target children. It also protects children from unfair and deceptive marketing practices in general industries such as with toys.” There clearly is a commission that focuses on children's protection against the media but is it enough? There needs to be way laws and regulations made and put into practice to ensure that the future of the world’s children are not at stake.
May 23, 2013
Children and Subliminal Messages in the Media
According to Advertising Today, Over 15 billion a year is spent in advertisements directed to children in the U.S. (Berger, 2001). Parents are often not aware that their children are direct targets of the advertising industry. This is an issue because, the average child in America watches over 40 thousand television commercials in a year, or over 100 a day (Egendorf, 2006). Subliminal messages is a term that defines any word, image, or sound that is not perceived within the normal range of consciousness, but that makes an impression on the mind according to (Treimer and Simonson, 2001). Subliminal messages in the media are harmful to children’s behaviors, health and perception of gender.
The behaviors that children learn through subliminal messages can be interpreted by observational learning. Albert Bandura is a psychologist who had a theory that stated that behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning. He conducted an experiment to prove that children learn from the things shown to them like the subliminal messages shown to them in the media. In this experiment “Bandura arranged for 24 boys and girls to watch a male or female model behaving aggressively towards a toy called a ‘Bobo doll’. The adults attacked the Bobo doll in a distinctive manner they used a hammer in some cases, and in others threw the doll in the air and shouted “Pow, Boom” (McLeod, 2001). The results of his experiment demonstrated that “children who observed the aggressive models made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups”. This proves just how children can be taught to behave in an aggressive way through observational learning there needs to be something done to change the subliminal messages presented to them. According to Children as Consumers “ In a national survey, more than half of the children who responded reported that buying certain advertised products made them feel better about themselves” (Global Issues, 2010). Advertisements have made it clear that children should be taught that if they are not purchasing a product advertised that they are missing out on the feeling all the other children are getting when they buy the products shown to make other children happy.
The media industry does not only target the behavior of children but also the child’s health. According to Pediatrics “More than 80% of all advertisements in children’s programming are for fast foods or snacks, and for every hour that children watch TV, they see an estimated 11 food advertisements.” This means that if the majority of the subliminal messages advertised is primarily promoting fast food eating it will come with unhealthy consequences such as obesity. The media’s subliminal influence of bad health habits is not just impacting the child now but it is also influencing the health of the parents. According to pediatrics “Research results clearly indicate that advertising is effective in getting younger children to request more high-fat/low –nutrition food to attempt to influence their parents.”(Jordan and Strasburger and Kramer-Golinkoff, 2008). The media not only advertises bad food choices but it also does not help promote a healthy diet for children who might already have obesity or another type of health issue. Pediatrics said “Nearly 9000 food ads found that young people see an average of twelve to twenty one food ads per day, for a total of 4400 to 7600 ads per year, yet they see fewer than 165 ads that promote fitness or good nutrition.” This shows how the media uses food to give children this allusion that fast food is so delectable and it is better than health food because, you can “have it your way” as long as “you're loving it”. The media has a good way of indulging children their way by showing children their favorite characters in their TV shows when they have their next visit to McDonald’s or Burger King or any other sort of fast food industry. If the health of the children of the future is not enough to start making a change than what is?
For many years now the media has focused its attention to both the female and male gender roles in society. According to Springer Science “Gender-role portrayals in advertising are influential in society because they can perpetuate stereotypes, and they can present behavioral norms for males and females.” With this being stated the children of the future will not even get their opportunity to set roles for themselves of what a woman or man is because the subliminal messages in our advertisement have already set that image up for them. Stated in Springer “Women have historically been underrepresented in advertising as compared with men further, women are often featured in advertisements as subordinate, as dependent on or subservient to men, and sex objects or decorations. This illustrates how the subliminal messages in the media portray women to be seen as decorations and that they will not be anything other than that and dependent on a man for the rest of her life. Is that really what we want adolescent girl minds to know at the age of 5 for the rest of the advertising time? Springer mentioned “Advertisers believe that male voices are perceived as more convincing, credible, and authoritarian than female voices.” (Furnham and Farragher, 2000). Is this the image that we want to give to little boys that they are suppose to be convincing and that they are stronger than a women based on voice?
The advertising industry has obviously focused it attention to its younger audience. An audience that at their earliest years of development have no consciousness that what the media is presenting to them that will later be what they reference to when they want to know how to see their gender roles, behaviors and what they want to eat. Our media today is well aware of its impact it has on our younger generations and it needs to make better decisions on what their advertisements are saying to children. This issue of subliminal messages in the media matters, because if there were no correlations between the advertisement industry and the actions and behaviors of humans it would not need a solution or call to action.
The first call to action that needs to be done is with the parents. Parents need to start to limit the amount of television their children are watching. Also parents need to monitor the types of things that their children are exposed to in the media. The responsibility of the children's well being does not only rely on the parents but as well on the government. If the advertisement industry is not willing to promote a good environment for children there needs to be laws made that directly target how and what types of advertisements can be directed to children. There are some laws regarding children and the advertising industry but it still is not enough. One of the current things being done to help solve this problem is the FTC. The FTC, The Federal Trade Commission, is a government entity that focuses on protecting consumers from deceptive and unfair advertising and marketing practices that cause health concerns and safety concerns. The Federal Trade Commission claims “A portion of this division's services are dedicated to monitoring and stopping fraudulent alcohol, tobacco, violent entertainment, and food advertising practices that target children. It also protects children from unfair and deceptive marketing practices in general industries such as with toys.” There clearly is a commission that focuses on children's protection against the media but is it enough? There needs to be way laws and regulations made and put into practice to ensure that the future of the world’s children are not at stake.