5
10
15
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25
5.3
ADVERTISING AND CHILDREN
50
READING
1
What products are most commonly featured in
adverts for children? How are they advertised?
2
a
Read the article quickly and say which of the
following are
not
mentioned in the text.
1
the time children spend watching television
2
the ways in which advertisers can reach children
3
the dangers of advertising to children
4
how different countries control advertising
5
products that are not allowed to be advertised in
different countries
2
b
Read the article again and find the following.
1
three examples of ways in which advertisers
reach children
2
three serious problems with advertising for children
3
four countries that impose controls on advertising
for children
4
three countries that used to have no governmental
controls on advertising to children
5
three examples of how countries approach the
control of advertising to children differently
3
Responding to the topic
Work with a partner to
discuss the following.
1
Do you agree that advertising should not be aimed at
children? Why?/Why not?
2
In the text there are a number of approaches to
controlling advertising for children. Which is the best?
3
In your opinion should some products not be
advertised at all? If so, which?
VOCABULARY
WORD COMBINATIONS
4
Look at the article again and find the words below.
Which other words do they combine with? Is each
combination adjective + noun or noun + noun?
1
managers (line 1)
2
target (line 4)
3
commercials (line 13)
4
cartoons (line 17)
5
message (line 26)
6
sums (line 30)
7
food (line 30)
8
products (line 33)
9
websites (line 39)
5
Complete the sentences so they are true for you.
1
I think advertising managers should …
2
I think junk food is …
3
I like/don’t like TV commercials that …
4
Companies should not spend vast sums of money on …
Advertisers
targeting
young people
Paul Johnson reports
A new report has concluded that advertising managers are
becoming increasingly interested in children. Studies show
that children influence about 50 percent of things that
families buy, so they are an attractive
target for advertisers.
Unfortunately, some companies have increased their
advertising to children for many of their least nutritious
products.
John Taylor, the author of the report and a lecturer at
the Department of Media and Communications at the
University of West London, says: ‘Advertisers can reach their
target in many ways. They can, for example, show an advert
many times during school holidays, they can make the TV
commercials a little louder than the programmes to attract
attention, or they can sponsor programmes and show their
commercials just before the programme begins.’
Most advertisements aimed at children are short,
imaginative and often in the form of animated cartoons.
‘Children love the adverts and watch them in the same way
as any entertainment programme,’Taylor says.
There are concerns about advertising aimed at young
people. The concerns are shared by Sarah Durham, a writer
and journalist specialising in media analysis. ‘The most
worrying thing is that children do not think carefully when
they see television advertisements. They are less critical
than adults and do not usually realise that the advert has a
persuasive message, to encourage them or their parents to
spend as much money as possible on the product or service,’
she says.
