Download Michael Pham Newhart ENG1010 4/10/2014 Paper 3 Final As a

Michael Pham
Newhart
ENG1010
4/10/2014
Paper 3 Final
As a child I can remember playing a computer game that came with my Captain Crunch
cereal. This game kept me occupied for some time while I solved puzzles, competed in races,
and built my own virtual captains ship. Captain Crunch quickly became one of my favorite
breakfast foods with all of the great commercials, the fun on the packages, and the free stuff I
got in each box. I began to spend nearly every morning with “the Cap’n.” I had no idea at the
time but I had just fallen victim to an incredibly intelligent marketing campaign. Advertising is
something we get inundated with every day. We see ads everywhere we go, from the billboards
and buses on our drives to work to the ads we see and hear on the radio and television and
even the logos we see on each other’s clothing. Most of this flies under the radar but it has
some deep effects on our buying behavior. The level of understanding and psychology that goes
into creating a marketing campaign is immense.
As an adult I work in the marketing industry and still am often amazed at the detail in
which we approach our campaigns. Everything from tying into the latest new movies and TV
shows, offering giveaways, product placement to defining exactly which demographic is the
perfect target for our products. In the aforementioned example from my youth you see an
effective approach in a free giveaway that ties into the product and led me back to it by
inundating me with the image and brand message over and over again until I would make no
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other choice but to eat Captain Crunch every morning. Have you ever walked down the cereal
aisle at the grocery store and really looked at the boxes? You find all kinds of colorful
characters, movie tie-ins, and giveaways. On top of all of that there is the psychology behind
the packaging, how each color chosen elicits a certain emotion and even how the characters
make eye contact with their perceived contact. Children’s cereals will have characters that look
down at an angle in order to make eye contact with children, while adult cereals will have
characters that look straight ahead. This is done because we are conditioned to make eye
contact with people when they look at us so we are just a little more likely to have our eyes
drawn to a specific selection if that character is looking right us. I’ve learned a lot of incredible
things in this industry and
one of the largest lessons I learned in my work is that there is an
immense responsibility in the way advertising and marketing is to be approached.
There is a lot of controversy in the way companies use their knowledge and expertise in
buying psychology and human emotion. One of the most controversial areas in marketing is the
subject of advertising to children. Advertising junk food or unhealthy options in food to children
is something that has been around for a long time and it is not going anywhere despite multiple
new regulations and organized groups against advertising to children. According to a review by
the Federal Trade Commission, food and beverage companies currently spend upwards of two
billion dollars every year in marketing specifically to children. In fact, the fast food industry
alone spends five million dollars every day in marketing to children. According to Priming
Effects of Television Food Advertising on Eating Behavior, a Study conducted by Yale University
for the American Psychological Association, Children who are exposed to television content
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with food advertising consume 45 percent more food than children exposed to content without
food advertising.
Junk food is widely seen as the main factor in child obesity, diabetes, high blood
pressure, and even strokes. All of these factors has led to multiple groups and campaigns that
stand opposed to allowing the food and beverage industry to market to children. Chief among
these is First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against childhood obesity, “Let’s Move.” The
food and beverage industry responded with a program called the Children’s Food and Beverage
Advertising Initiative in an attempt to create a self-regulation for their advertisements. A study
that resulted from this initiative examined advertisements from the top 25 quick service
restaurant chains in the U.S to see if they were complying with their own self-regulatory
pledges. Some of the key findings of this study show that top quick service restaurants still aired
up to 40 percent of their advertisements aimed at children. Of those ads 69 percent included
mention of toy giveaways or movie tie ins. These ads also were more likely to include strong
branding with their own food packaging in 88 percent of the ads. According to the food and
beverages industry’s own standard that they set up for self-regulation, they have fallen short in
their own pledges and did not follow through on the promises they made.
Marketing and advertising professionals have a responsibility not only to the companies
and products they represent but to the people they are searching to advertise to. In Keith
Reinhards address at the AEF Annual Symposium in 2005 he said: “the honest pursuit of sales is
not only a good thing, but vital to our cherished way of life. So advertising, because it’s good at
selling things, is a force for good.” There are countless great things that come out of the
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advertising industry from entertainment and knowledge to it being the driving force in our
economy. Marketing to children hasn’t been exclusively done by fast food and unhealthy
options. Two of the most successful campaigns directed to children are the “Got Milk?”
campaign and the “Truth About Tobacco” campaign have helped educate much of our youth
about the health benefits of milk and calcium and the negative effects of smoking. Without
advertising, the messages for groups like the Foundation for a Better Life, Cancer prevention
and research groups would have no voice or momentum except to people it directly affects. If
the Truth About Tobacco wasn’t able to advertise to kids would we be able to prevent smoking
in our youth to the extent that we have? I think it’s safe to say that without getting the message
out there to people who need to hear it the message would disappear and be completely
ineffective. Socially responsible marketers were able to come up with a better approach to their
self-regulatory process, creating a body now known as the Childrens Advertising Review Unit, or
CARU, which mandates 7 principles of marketing towards children that include platforms such
as; Advertising should always take into account the level of knowledge, sophistication and
maturity of the audience to which their message is directed and advertisers are urged to
capitalize on the potential to influence behavior by developing advertising that, whenever
possible, addresses itself to positive and beneficial social behavior such as friendship, kindness,
honesty, justice, generosity and respect for others. With the addition of groups like CARU and
the honest attempts made by companies to comply with the principles set forth we now begin
to see the power that advertising can be in our society. Children’s advertising actually helps pay
for nearly 90 percent of children’s television programs. Without the audience to watch the
advertisements as well as the programming, the options for children would become incredibly
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limited. There wouldn’t be a place for stations like PBS that helps children learn and grow
throughout their development with programs like Sesame Street.
The responsibility that a marketer takes when they design advertisements runs pretty
deep. The amount of care and thought that goes into selling a product also needs to apply to
the person that is being targeted to buy that product. When an advertising professional creates
a strong piece that helps to sell a product they not only are responsible for making sure that the
company they represent sees success in their sales but that the person who buys the product is
the right person and has a genuine use for that product or service. In the process of audience
selection there are a lot of factors that help a marketer decide who they will be targeting; Who
has the best use for this product? Does this product offer any benefit to a specific type person?
Where can we make the most profit on this product? Using these and other like questions a
marketer can develop the right audience for a product but they also develop a level of
understanding of the person who will be purchasing the product. If they are responsible in the
way they approach their ads they will not only be more successful but be less likely to come
under scrutiny for their tactics. Being responsible for wht you do in the world of advertising is
one of the principle rules for a reason. It affects too many factors in society to be taken lightly.
Is advertising and marketing a force for good or an irresponsible force that is only
interested in making money? I will tell you that it depends on the professional, Marketing is
often under scrutiny because it is everywhere. As an omnipresent force in our society it is hard
for people to see both the good and the bad in the industry which is why it falls on the
professionals themselves to recognize their responsibility in how they approach the way they
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sell products and ideas. Advertising to children is an incredibly tough subject for a lot of people
and the discussion will spark many more additions to the way it is approached in the future.
Right now advertising to children not only sells happy meals but also helps after school
programs get funding, educates kids on potential risks, and even sustains child programs as a
whole. Advertising is not the evil in our society, if used responsibly it can help our societies
children learn and grow in the best ways while still fueling our economy so they have a world to
grow up in.
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Sources:
Musicus Aviva, Aner Tal, and Brian Wansink. "Eyes in the Aisles: Why Is Cap'n Crunch
Looking Down at My Child?" Food and Brand Lab. Cornell University Brand Lab, 32 Mar.
2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
Chandon, Pierre, and Brian Wansink “Does Food Marketing Need to Make Us Fat? A Review
and Solutions,” Nutrition Reviews, Vol. 70, 04 Oct 2012
Federal Trade Commission “Marketing Food To Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry
Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation: A Federal Trade Commission Report To Congress,” 28 July,
2008
Powell, LM, RM Shermbeck, and G. Sczypka. "Trends in the Nutritional Content of Television Food
Advertisements Seen by Children in the United States." RWJF. Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, 11
Aug. 2010. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
Harris Jennifer, Bargh John, and Brownell Kelly “Priming Effects of Television Food Advertising on Eating
Behavior” American Psychological Association. Health Psychology Vol 28, No. 4, 404-413, 2009
The Childrens Advertising Review Unit, “7 Principles of Advertising to Children”
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