Channel 4 News: Advertising to children (script)
As sure as the leaves fall off the trees, the pre-Christmas advertising blitz aimed at children is getting underway on television. Parents are already being pestered to buy everything from a fashion doll to that must-have DVD. But should children be subjected to these powerful messages? A group of MPs thinks not, and wants this year's campaign to be the last. As the advertisers fight back, Channel 4 News decided to find out exactly how brand-aware a four-year-old really is. David Rowan reports on the battle to reach the youngest consumers
Imagine the world from a four-year-old's point of view. It's a busy, often confusing place - where social acceptance can depend on owning the right brands of toys and sweets. They fight for your attention on children's TV, especially between now and Christmas - the crucial weeks for a toy industry worth almost £2 billion a year. But this year it faces a damaging threat: a call by 130 MPs to ban all TV commercials aimed at the under-fives.
It's a sophisticated business, with its own trade secrets - as an insider told us. The advertising industry is lobbying hard against a ban - fighting back to show they're responsible. Next month they'll launch an education campaign called 'Media Smart,' using teaching packs and a TV commercial like this one to urge children to 'think' about what they're watching. Toy firms hope the campaign will help them avoid tighter regulation.
We wanted to know how likely children were to choose advertised products over similar non-branded goods. So we asked a psychologist to devise a scientifically valid test, which we took to two schools. It involved eight heavily advertised goods and their non-branded equivalents. Which would these four and five year olds select?
Out of 75 children, some were evidently more brand aware than others. But those who chose advertised goods could rarely explain why. They didn't seem to understand what the adverts were for - although they did know how to play off one parent against the other.
We found that in every category, the advertised brands won out - sometimes by 84 per cent. Other advertised foods also score highly. More than two-thirds chose the branded orange drink. But with trainers, targeted at older consumers, there was no marked preference. For girls, the trend was even more noticeable. Almost all chose the branded breakfast cereal. High figures were also registered for the advertised toy and the branded chocolate bar.
With childhood obesity at record levels, doctors are also calling for action. Last month, a powerful medical committee demanded a Europe-wide ban on advertising junk food. But those who help companies target children say a ban would be pointless.
But in Sweden, children are considered so vulnerable to these messages that broadcasters have to treat them as a 'commercial free zone'. Swedish parents seem to welcome the ban as a weapon against pester power - even if advertisers can still reach children in other ways.
But looked at more closely, Sweden's ban is problematic. It's hard to prove when children are being targeted - you can advertise a 49-piece jigsaw, for instance but anything smaller is classed as a toy. And in the global media village, the internet and digital TV can still get through.
As our research shows, advertising clearly does influence a child's world. But other forces are also at play, from character merchandise to older brothers and sisters.
The government sees no need for a ban, but faced with growing pressure over unhealthy food adverts it's asking the new media watchdog to look again at the rules. Parents, meanwhile, are bracing for the battle ahead.
(Channel 4 News, written and reported by David Rowan, October 17 2002)
Imagine the world from a four-year-old's point of view. It's a busy, often confusing place - where social acceptance can depend on owning the right brands of toys and sweets. They fight for your attention on children's TV, especially between now and Christmas - the crucial weeks for a toy industry worth almost £2 billion a year. But this year it faces a damaging threat: a call by 130 MPs to ban all TV commercials aimed at the under-fives.
It's a sophisticated business, with its own trade secrets - as an insider told us. The advertising industry is lobbying hard against a ban - fighting back to show they're responsible. Next month they'll launch an education campaign called 'Media Smart,' using teaching packs and a TV commercial like this one to urge children to 'think' about what they're watching. Toy firms hope the campaign will help them avoid tighter regulation.
We wanted to know how likely children were to choose advertised products over similar non-branded goods. So we asked a psychologist to devise a scientifically valid test, which we took to two schools. It involved eight heavily advertised goods and their non-branded equivalents. Which would these four and five year olds select?
Out of 75 children, some were evidently more brand aware than others. But those who chose advertised goods could rarely explain why. They didn't seem to understand what the adverts were for - although they did know how to play off one parent against the other.
We found that in every category, the advertised brands won out - sometimes by 84 per cent. Other advertised foods also score highly. More than two-thirds chose the branded orange drink. But with trainers, targeted at older consumers, there was no marked preference. For girls, the trend was even more noticeable. Almost all chose the branded breakfast cereal. High figures were also registered for the advertised toy and the branded chocolate bar.
With childhood obesity at record levels, doctors are also calling for action. Last month, a powerful medical committee demanded a Europe-wide ban on advertising junk food. But those who help companies target children say a ban would be pointless.
But in Sweden, children are considered so vulnerable to these messages that broadcasters have to treat them as a 'commercial free zone'. Swedish parents seem to welcome the ban as a weapon against pester power - even if advertisers can still reach children in other ways.
But looked at more closely, Sweden's ban is problematic. It's hard to prove when children are being targeted - you can advertise a 49-piece jigsaw, for instance but anything smaller is classed as a toy. And in the global media village, the internet and digital TV can still get through.
As our research shows, advertising clearly does influence a child's world. But other forces are also at play, from character merchandise to older brothers and sisters.
The government sees no need for a ban, but faced with growing pressure over unhealthy food adverts it's asking the new media watchdog to look again at the rules. Parents, meanwhile, are bracing for the battle ahead.
(Channel 4 News, written and reported by David Rowan, October 17 2002)
posted by David Rowan at Thursday, October 17, 2002
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