Date of Defense

Spring 4-13-1999

Department

Marketing

First Advisor

Jay Lindquist, Marketing

Second Advisor

Edward Mayo, Marketing

Third Advisor

Betty Parker, Marketing

Abstract

The issue of children and advertising came to light in the 1970s and has continued to be a topic of much discussion ever since. In started in the 1970s when the Action for Children's Television petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to eliminate all commercials from children's TV programs. Then in January 1973, the major networks agreed to reduce commercial time in children's weekend programs from 16 minutes an hour to 12 minutes an hour. In 1991, the Better Business Bureau estimated that children in the U.S. watch an average of 3.5 hours of television every day, and the average child sees more than 20,000 commercials each year, with more than 60% of these ads showing sugared cereal, candy, fatty foods, and toys. This introduces children to what it means to be a consumer. Kids aged 7-12 account for $8.9 billion in spending annually. Children are considered an important market segment with companies developing advertisements specifically targeted at children. This paper is an analysis of literature on the issue of children and advertising.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

Download

Share

COinS