are that the ad is trying to persuade them of something. This same study also showed that young children, in this case fourth-graders, were more likely to actually change their behavior as a direct result of seeing a TV advertisement than were older children.
Children under seven are particularly vulnerable to television advertising because they do not realize that the purpose of the commercial is to sell them something - they just accept commercials as presenting information or entertainment like any other program (Greenfield, 1984). This confusion is heightened by the fact that many children's shows today are based on popular toys, thus blurring the line between program and commercial even further.
This trend started in 1983 with the Smurfs and Strawberry Shortcake. Now it is almost impossible to get a new children's show on TV without a toy company backing it, says Peggy Charren, head of Action for Children's Television (ACT). G.I. Joe and Transformers are actually produced with money from toy company marketing budgets, and Thundercats has offered a share of the toy profits to the broadcasters. This sort of inundation of the marketplace may have reached its zenith with the currently popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which is a cartoon, series of toys, cereal, clothing line, and part of the Universal Studios tour. Interactive toys like Mattel's Captain Power almost have to be purchased in order for a child to understand and participate in the television show (Kanner, 1988).
The commercial for Captain Power was recently forced off the air by several children's interest groups, including ACT. The ad was frightening and confusing its young viewers by imploring them to use the toy to save the earth. This was one case in which the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau was successful in getting an unethical ad off the air.
However, CARU is ofte...