‘Children have spending power’ (Gunter, 2005) and it is for
this reason that children are deemed more vulnerable to the effects of
advertising than adults (Benaji, 2010). Everywhere you look, there is some form
of advertising on display; through television, newspapers, magazines, posters,
billboards etc, and therefore it is practically impossible to protect children
from its’ influence. Cooke (2002) notes how children in the United Kingdom and
United States spend, on average, between 4 and 5 hours watching some form of
electronic media through which advertisements are transmitted, and Kunkel and
Gantz (1992) found that in the US, 10 minutes of every hour is dedicated to
adverts on television. These research findings were concluded over 10 and 20
years ago, therefore it can be assumed that due to the ever-evolving and
ever-increasing technology, that these figures are significantly larger in
today’s society.
Advertisements are predominantly criticised for playing a
negative effect on how children perceive themselves. Ross et al, (1994)
acknowledged how the use of celebrities within advertisements can increase
children’s liking for a product; however the use of celebrities can also be
used to project idealised images to young, influential children. Martin et al,
(1999) found that ‘magazine advertisements that included attractive models has
the most influence on girls who had poor body image themselves’, and therefore
this type of advertisement can ‘reinforce the pressures on young people to
conform to ideals of beauty that are hard or impossible to achieve’ (Gunter,
2005). This form of advertisement can also lead to what Cohen and Cahill (1999)
describe as ‘getting older younger’ whereby’ toys or products usually associated
with a particular age group are now being bought by or for younger children’.
This can be seen as the exploitation of children who have little understanding
of the power advertisements hold and their persuasive nature.
Gunter (2005) poses the question of whether it is fair to advertise
to children if they do not fully understand the intent of the advertisers and
noted that a way to increase children’s understanding of advertising is through
school education. Banaji (2010) states that teachers who wish to educate
children on advertisements should approach them as ‘complicated social and
media texts, unpicking their narratives in the way we might unpick written
fiction’. In this way, it is proposed that children increase their ability to
judge the ‘facts, opinions and persuasive content’ of advertisements (Banaji,
2005). Studying the use of persuasive writing through advertisements is a great
way to engage children as it is almost certain that they have had some form of
exposure to them, and is therefore providing a link with what they have seen at
home to what they are learning in school, providing motivation and interest and making the learning accessible to all children.
Banaji, S. (2010) ‘Analysing Advertisements in the Classroom’
in Bazlegetter, C. (ed.) Teaching Media
in Primary Schools London: Sage
Gunter, B., Oates, C. And Blades, M. (2005) Advertising to Children on TV New
Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp 1 – 13.
I think persuasive writing provides a means for using advertising in the classroom. The exposure to the language in a real life context enables children to see that it has a purpose and in agreement to your point can motivate and interest them into learning. However, if we use adverts in the classroom we have to be aware of the effects that some content can have on children surrounding body issues and influences.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Charlotte and as future teachers advertising shouldn't be banned form the classroom but as teachers we will need to do prior research, know our children well e ought o decide what will benefit the classroom and use this resource with discretion, but I feel that it can help as it is all around in the environment that children live in.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of your comments in that conducting prior research into the materials you are bringing into your classroom is extremely important. Sensitivity is a major issue within any subject in school, and so teachers need to be fully aware of the materials they are using to avoid unnecessary harm and upset to the children. If this is done, then I believe that using advertisements provides a lot of benefits, such as engagement, motivation and a context in which their learning can take place.
ReplyDelete