Articles

THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING -- ADDENDA; Report Criticizes Effects Of Ads on Children
By Stuart Elliot


In this article from the New York Times Stuart Elliot talks about how yet another group; the American Psychological Association, has joined the discussion on the effect of advertising on children, especially on children under the age of 7 or 8. They argue that children under the age of 7 or 8 aren't able to look at advertising critically, and that they see the things that appear in commercials as truthful. This has a negative effect on children and their views. On the other hand, Richard O'Brien; executive vice president at the Washington office of the American Association of Advertising Agencies stated that " the advertising industry tries to protect the special sensibility of children." There are already some restriction as to what is allowed to be aimed at children and what not, but since the media, and therefore advertising aimed at children is growing, they want more limits.

Renate L Welch, Aletha Huston-Stein, John C Wright & Robert Plehal: 'Subtle Sex-Role Cues in Children's Commercials'
By Merris Griffiths

In this article Merris Griffiths discusses a study done by Welch et al on gender advertising. They look at 60 children's advertisements (20 aimed at boys, 20 aimed at girls, and 20 aimed at both sexes) to see how they differ in the areas of action, pace, visual/camera techniques and auditory techniques, also taking a look at aggression. They found that both girls and boys had the same amount of activity rate, which came as a surprise. Also when they looked at the pay of boys and girls advertising they found that it was about the same, yet in girls advertising it was more subtle. This reflects what they found when looking at visual/camera techniques; they found that boys had more cutting rates which were often abrupt, while girls had more fades and dissolves. When looking at the audio they found that in both cases the narrator had the same gender as the gender being advertised. They also found that boys had more noise, loud music and sound effects, while girls had soft music in the background. This would support the gender stereotype that girls are supposed to be quiet and silent, while boys are supposed to be loud and active. Aggression was hardly found in girls advertising. Griffiths concluded that there are differences between male and female advertising, yet it is subtle and therefore very dangerous.