Media Literacy and Children as Vulnerable Consumers

MARK 310 103

26 April 2018

Taylor Arnold, Rachel Barbera, Nicole Becker,

Claire Gardone, Kathryn Manley, & Marissa Panarese

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I. The Problem

How can we solve the problem of children being a vulnerable population who are raised

in a consumer world and who are exposed to media and advertisements from a young age?

Throughout the paper, we focus on elementary-aged children, ages four to twelve, and how

media and advertising influence them, their development, and their families.

II. Why It Is Worth Our Attention

There are a lot of reasons as to why children being a vulnerable population in a

consumer-centered world. The first has to do with media literacy. Both children and parents have

not been taught media literacy previously; it is something that is acquired as they become more

informed consumers. However despite their lack of media literacy and young ages, the buying

power of children and adolescents has exponentially increased over time. This leads them to be

the source of billions of dollars in the marketplace; children the age of four to twelve have spent

$30 billion since 2002, a number that has been increasing ever since (Calvert, 2008, p.207).

Because parents most likely consume different media than their children, they are not

fully aware of what their children are being exposed to. Child development plays a large role in

how they interpret media messages, and can ultimately determine how skilled they become in

media literacy. Children are exposed to media messages on numerous different platforms,

however they are unable to process it and are not able to understand what exactly they are

supposed to believe. Despite this, children shape the buying pattern of their families. From

vacations to cars to meals, they exert a tremendous amount of power over the family purchase

decisions. “Children ages four to twelve have sway over $500 billion a year in household
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purchasing,” and most of this impact comes from the media that the children are exposed to

(Calvert, 2008, p.207).

As most have discovered, marketers’ online presence has increased gradually over the

past several years. New strategies have been created to attract consumers, however many of these

strategies can cause children “younger than eight [to be] especially vulnerable because they lack

the cognitive skills to understand the persuasive intent of television and advertisements”

(Calvert, 2008, p.225). Because of this heightened online presence, children’s vulnerability needs

more attention than ever. It is also known that the media has repeatedly been connected to

hindering children’s development, especially through increases both in violent behavior and in

desire for consumption.

III. Child Development

Because children’s brains are in a process of constant and rapid development, they are

easily impressionable from the time they are born until age eighteen. However, this is especially

the case when they are under the age of eight. Due to this, children younger than eight do not

have the capability to decipher between what is or what is not a commercial, and advertisements’

persuasive messages (Dittmann, 2004). Although there are about twelve billion dollars spent

every year on advertisements targeted toward children, they are left in a vulnerable state, and are

easily taken advantage of by marketers (Dittmann, 2004).

Throughout their development, children have impeccable memories, and their brains are

able to easily absorb information. This causes them to both remember and believe almost

everything they are exposed to as true. For example, young children may copycat what their

parents say or do. Additionally, this characteristic was demonstrated in studies such as that of
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Dittmann (2004), as “studies cited in [this] report have shown that after just one exposure to a

commercial, children can recall the ad's content and have a desire for the product.” Dittmann’s

(2004) study further exemplifies the effects that advertising has on children:

Some researchers speculate that advertising geared to children--which largely consists of

ads for sugary cereals, candy and fast-food restaurants--may be contributing to the

increase in childhood obesity by promoting unhealthy foods. Plus, studies suggest that

eating habits formed during childhood can persist throughout life, according to the report.

When they see these kinds of advertisements, they want to eat the unhealthy food; this explains

how impactful these advertisements can be on children’s brains. What these children do not

know is that there are underlying messages that are omitted from the advertising narrative. For

example, an advertisement for sugary cereal does not tell children that eating those kinds of

unhealthy foods are bad or that they could lead to larger health problems for them down the line.

In excess, these kinds of advertisements could essentially lead to the development of unhealthy

eating habits or obesity at a young age. Although these kinds of advertisements are indirectly

targeted to children, their impressionable personalities make it easy for them to form habits

based off of these ads, which could hurt them in the long run.

In addition to children’s vulnerability to marketing tactics, advertisements can also affect

this demographic psychologically. Furthermore, Dittmann’s study explains a “materialistic shift”

happening in our society across all age groups. Kanner, a child psychologist is quoted by saying
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that this shift has “an enormous impact and major influence on children's lives, [and] is highly

psychological in nature" (Dittmann, 2004).

With the advent of online technology, children are being exposed to a whole platform of

violence and self-harm online, which impacts their mental health and can lead to long lasting

problems. According to Statista, 78% of parents are concerned with how much violence is

depicted in the media that their young children, up to age eight, are being exposed to (Common

Sense Media). This can lead to the normalization of violence in children’s minds, because they

are being exposed to is so often. Although it could be seen almost anywhere, violence in the

media is not necessarily being as heavily monitored and regulated by parents of young children.

However, some parents are not exactly sure how to mediate their children’s media exposure.

“Notwithstanding the concerns, most parents felt rather confident in their mediation capabilities.

Yet 1 in 8 parents reported that they felt insecure when guiding their children’s media use.

Finally, parents did not make much use of parenting support, in particular the support provided

by professionals” (Nikken & de Haan, 2015, p.52). This issue not only relates to the media

literacy of children, but to the literacy of the parents as well. However, there are things such as

parental controls on TVs, iPads, cell phones, and other technologies to aid parents in regulating

what their children see on certain media platforms. These kinds of controls can help limit the

violence that children see on television or online, which can essentially decreased the

normalization of it.

When discussing children and their mental development, it has been found that too much

online exposure can lead to mental illness and a decline in their overall mental health. According

to a study, “ample research evidence also links technology use to [certain] mental health
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problems. Internet addiction is associated with loneliness, anxiety, and impulsivity. Furthermore,

depression and suicidal ideation were reported [in] Korean adolescents who utilized the internet

greater than the average user” (​Cernikova, Smahel, & Wright, 2018, p.665).​ This serves as proof

that too much online exposure can affect children’s mental and emotional health, which furthers

the importance of parental monitoring.

IV. Regulation

T​he presence of advertising, product placement, and sponsorship is rapidly increasing on

different online platforms such as blogs, YouTube, and social media sites like Instagram and

Snapchat. Since children are beginning to gain online presences at even younger ages, these

Internet sites and apps have major appeal. Thus, advertising of ​child-specific products must

comply with certain laws and regulations. Advertising laws protect consumers by requiring

advertisers to be truthful about their products. Failure to comply with advertising laws can result

in costly enforcement actions and civil penalties. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the

primary federal agency that enforces advertising laws and regulations, and prohibits deceptive or

unfair practices in advertising. Under the FTC, “advertising must be truthful and

non-deceptive...advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims…[and] advertisements

cannot be unfair” (Federal Trade Commission). Advertisers of children's products who fail to

comply with advertising laws risk receiving complaints by consumers, industry groups, and

competitors, and investigation by the FTC. Many industry groups have self-regulatory codes

governing advertising within the industry (Federal Trade Commission, 2002).

The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of the Better Business

Bureau is the child component of the advertising industry's self-regulation system, and it
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publishes the "Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising." These guidelines, which

apply to national advertising directed to children under age twelve in any medium, ensure that

this advertising is not deceptive, unfair, or inappropriate for its intended audience. Additionally,

they take into account that children are uniquely impressionable and vulnerable. For example, in

determining whether an advertisement is deceptive, CARU looks at the level of experience,

sophistication, and maturity of the children in the intended audience, as well as at any limits on

their cognitive and evaluation abilities. CARU monitors television commercials and reviews

advertisements in print, radio, and online media. When CARU finds children's product

advertising to be misleading, inaccurate, or inconsistent with its guidelines, it seeks change

through the voluntary cooperation of advertisers (​Children’s Advertising Review Unit, 2014​).

Lastly, the Children's Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) was passed to address the

growth of online marketing techniques that were specifically targeting children. Various websites

were collecting personal data from children without parental knowledge or consent. Research

published by the Center for Media Education shows that children did not understand the potential

negative outcomes of revealing personal information online. In the wake of media reports

demonstrating the ease of gathering private data from children, the public pressured Congress to

legisl​ate (Federal Trade Commission, 2002​). COPPA requires that site operators allow parents to

review any information collected from their children. Any relevant site has to provide full access

to all user records, profiles, and login information if a parent requests it. Although the FTC

decided that parents may delete certain information, they are unable to otherwise alter

information (​What is Media Literacy?​).

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V. Parental Influence and Knowledge

In understanding media literacy in children, it is crucial to consider the roles that parents

play in it. Parents are concerned when it comes to the violence, sexual content, materialism, and

more that they believe their children could be exposed to through media (Common Sense Media,

2017). We think that one solution people might readily suggest to protect children is to have

parents limit media exposure, and educate their kids on media issues. However, the solution is

not that simple. One big issue is that parents themselves are not taught media literacy. Because of

this it is hard for parents to know how to teach their kids to be media literate, or even that it is

something they should be teaching them from the beginning. W. James Potter’s textbook on

media literacy even states that “unless parents themselves are media literate, their help is likely

to lead to negative effects rather than truly helping their children” (Potter, 2014, p.81-84).

Another obstacle is that parents are not consuming the same media as their children. With new

technologies emerging, kids also seem to be exposed to more media at even younger ages.

Because of this, parents may not even be aware of what exactly their kids are being exposed to.

If parents mostly consume media through television, they might not be aware of the media

content their kids are seeing online, in video games, or even on children’s television channels

(Nelson, 2016, p.169).

Even if parents do strictly monitor their children’s media consumption, there are still

limits to this. Parents can only do so much to control what their kids are exposed to. It is

understood that parents cannot control ads that appear on TV, YouTube videos, and Internet

sites. Children are also exposed to media through their peers in school. Even if a child is not

allowed to watch a show or play a video game by their parents at home, they can be exposed to
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elements of it through other children who may be consuming this media at home. Because of

these things, it is important to recognize that parents limiting and monitoring their kid’s media

exposure is not enough. Whether or not they control their children’s media consumption or not, it

is important that parents teach their children to be media literate because it is impossible for them

to totally shelter their children from the total reach of media. Due to these limitations, school is

the next natural source of education to consider when it comes to teaching media literacy.

Schools could be a good place to teach children about media awareness and literacy.

Researcher Michelle Nelson did a study called “Developing Persuasion Knowledge by Teaching

Advertising Literacy in Primary School”. This research focused on integrating media literacy

into education, and says that doing so could help reduce the harmful effects of media and

advertising for children. Nelson says that “advertising, as a field of study, should seek to

understand the effects, ethics, and training of advertising on its youngest audience.” She

describes how it is critical to teach kids specifically about persuasion, and how and why it is

used. In this study, she states that schools need to hold “media literacy interventions,” and that

these programs should teach kids about how media operates, how it can influence people, and the

harmful effects it can have (Nelson, 2016, p.169-172). This type of education in schools has the

potential to be extremely beneficial to children’s ability to navigate media messages. Nelson’s

study concluded that “with just a few hours of [media] literacy training, the field test showed

significant increases in some aspects of [media] literacy” (Nelson, 2016, p.180).

VI. Peer Influence

It has become more and more important to acknowledge the large influence that peers can

have on a child’s life and on media he or she consumes. Peer pressure is an increasingly relevant
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issue in today’s society, as media technology keep children and adolescents connected almost

constantly. They are connected to current news issues, all social media platforms, and basically

any information that they want to find. The Internet, full of content, makes both positive and

negative content equally accessible. Additionally, it is becoming simpler for children to obtain

social media accounts, which allows them to view the opinions, comments, and interests of

anyone within their network or friends lists.

With social media so readily available, children are exposed to the marketing efforts on

these sites. Children are influenced by these advertisements, and then are able to post, share or

like something, which continues the advertising trail onto friends and peers. Word-of-mouth

advertising is powerful, and marketers know that consumers are more likely to purchase a good

if someone they know and trust is recommending it. In the Journal for Interactive Marketing,

word-of-mouth “allows consumers to socially interact with one another, exchange

product-related information, and make informed purchase decisions via computer-mediated

conversations” (King, Racherla, & Busch, 2014, p.167). These types of interactions can either be

positive or negative. As is known, children are at a higher risk for believing what they read on

the Internet, and they use that to make choices about products they want in their lives. For

example, if a celebrity or a friend posts pictures wearing Nike shoes, it gives the impression that

Nike shoes will help the child who is viewing those pictures to fit in with those that he or she

looks up to. All human beings desire to be included in society and to feel like they have a place,

which is especially prevalent in children. As Internet speeds increase, information can be found

more quickly than ever, and less time is taken to do research and to go through a personal

decision-making process. “The key factors that drive consumers to seek [word-of-mouth
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advertising] include: a) to reduce search and evaluation efforts in both pre- and post-purchase

evaluations…[and] c) to find social assurance/reassurance” (King et al., 2014, p.173).

In today’s society, children have been raised with both social media and digital

advertising in their lives, so there is essentially no way to get rid of the pressures that come with

living in this digital age. The best way to handle this peer pressure is to begin teaching children

about self confidence from a young age. Children should be reminded of the value of their

individuality. It is also important to instill in children that they have the ability to learn how to

make decisions on their own, and that is something that cannot be taken away from them. As

parents help encourage this sort of thinking and behavior among their children, adolescents can

become more inclined to present their true selves and to provide positive content on social

media. If social media can be used more for the sharing of knowledge and less for the sharing of

advertisements, marketers will have to rely on more honest and humble means of obtaining

customers.

VII. Solutions & Recommendations

The issue of young children being both vulnerable to advertising content and media

illiterate is a large and increasingly relevant one. However, there are solutions that can be put

into place in the United States in order to effectively monitor children’s media exposure and their

media literacy development. The following solutions have proven successful elsewhere, and

provide an important dialogue in protecting children from harmful or confusing advertising and

media messages.

The European Union (EU) has implemented a system under the governance of child

safety where the “central premise is that individuals who do not have access to relevant
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information will be at least able to make informed choices about how online interactions and

risks can be managed in safe and effective manner” (Savirimuthu, 2011, p.547). The program

highlights the importance of not only implementing barriers on the Internet to make it

‘child-friendly,’ but also to educate the public of the dangers that children may face while using

the Internet. A major issue with this, however, is that the majority of parents of these children are

Baby Boomers or Generation X and were ​not​ raised in this kind of media evolution. This makes

them somewhat unaware of the brevity and depths of the Internet. Although these generations are

aware of the Internet and its technologies, they are unable to fully understand how their children

are growing up with it. Looking toward a solution, the EU offers a relevant idea that could

effectively work in the United States, especially when it comes to focusing on this generation of

children being raised in a consumer-driven world.

Despite the negativity, it is important to recognize that not all Internet and media

exposure has been bad for children. Most children use their “profile pages and interactions on

social networking sites as platforms for self-presentation and group validation” (Savirimuthu,

2011, p.548-549). This allows them to be in constant contact with their peers, and it essentially

unlocks an entire platform of different, new perspectives. However, this media becomes a

problem when children begin to blur the line between their private and public spheres. It is also

important to be aware that these instant connections can lead to negative things such as peer

victimization and sexual solicitation by adults. Additionally, if adults are able to access this

content, then it should be recognized that children can just as easily access it as well.

The EU addressed these issues in a successful manner, so hopefully the United States

would be able to incorporate similar policies. First, the EU began by “requiring all stakeholders
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(i.e. industry, law enforcement, educators, child welfare organizations, researchers, parents and

children) to contribute to the goal of creating a safe and secure online environment for children.”

(Savirimuthu, 2011, p.551). Secondly, policymakers required parents to have access to parental

control tools, which allow them to control networking sites and monitor the amount of

advertisements their children were be subjected to (Savirimuthu, 2011, p.551). Lastly and most

importantly is the need for parents to be educated on and aware of what their children are being

exposed to. If parents fully understand, then they will be able to properly educate and discuss

with their children the importance of advertising literacy. Additionally, the EU has made it a

legal obligation for changes to be made to these policies if need be, which has ensured that more

companies, people, and media outlets are taking children’s vulnerability seriously.

Most recently, these same issues were touched on during Mark Zuckerberg’s trial

regarding Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. A lot of the discussion was based around the fact

that users felt that their “private” conversations were hacked. For example, they would message a

friend, perhaps about a particular brand and then would all of a sudden see ads related to that

same brand or product. This obviously breaches the privacy policy that Facebook has in place.

Similarly, this is happening to children on the Internet and on Facebook specifically. Privatizing

our networks is key in this particular situation. In conjunction with peer and parental influence, it

is crucial that these kinds of things be taught in schools in order to instill change and an ultimate

solution. Incorporating more technology knowledge, such as computer science and coding, into

curriculums can lead to the solution. Additionally, it is just as important to create lesson plans

that incorporate media literacy in terms of consumerism, exploitation, and social media.
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The American Psychology Association (APA) also put into place some policies devoted

to changing the narrative in a positive way. Most specifically, the “Council of Representatives

adopted…[a] policy and research recommendations to help counter the potential harmful effects

of advertising on children” (Dittmann, 2004). These policies ask for legislation to be put into

place that will restrict advertising targeted to children and that will conduct more studies to show

the influence of advertising at a young age. Because children are able to recall information from

an advertisement after viewing it once, companies could change the content​ ​of their

advertisements to be more child-friendly overall. Changing the narrative of the content being

advertised, it could be used for common good of all children.

VIII. Conclusion

As has been stated, media literacy in today’s technologically advanced society has

become increasingly important, especially in younger audiences. However, in order for

children’s media to be monitored properly, parents must also understand the media messages

fully and clearly. A child’s development, parental influence, and peer influence all play a role in

how he or she consumes media. Different government-issued regulations have also been put into

place to protect children from certain advertisements, but they have limitations. Children have

access to a multitude of different websites, videos, and so on because of the Internet and other

platforms like social media, about which their parents may not always know. This reason is also

partly why media literacy in both children ​and​ parents is so crucial. Solutions have been put into

place by the European Union and the American Psychology Association, and have developed a

clear path. However, there is still more that can be accomplished to ensure children and parents
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are doing what they can to understand media and advertising messages in this consumer-focused

world.
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