Kid Kustomer Essay - 1099 Words

â€Å"Kid Kustomers† No matter where children are or what they are doing they’ll always find some sort of advertisements. It can be when their casually watching television, reading a magazine or just playing games on their computer. Advertisements are different forms of communication whose purpose is to make their product known to the public. Marketers aren’t partial to certain people; they target anyone and every age group, but recently there has been an upsurge of advertisements aimed towards children. In Eric Schlosser’s article, Kid Kustomers, he demonstrates how child advertising has boomed by the tactics marketers use to get children to want and demand certain companies’ products. The big boom in child advertisement occurred in the†¦show more content†¦Schlosser refers to the Joe Camel ad campaign, which used a â€Å"hip cartoon character to sell cigarettes.† A 1991 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that nearly all o f America’s six-year-olds could identify Joe Camel, who was just as familiar to them as Mickey Mouse. Interestingly enough, another study found that one-third of cigarettes illegally sold to minors was in fact Camels. Not only do advertisers need a way to get kids to want their product, they also need children to be able to persuade their parents into buying them that product. The concept of children persuading other people to buy them what they want is known as the â€Å"surrogate salesmen.† James U. McNeal’s, professor of marketing at Texas AM University, classified kids nagging tactics into seven major categories; pleading, persistent, forceful, demonstrative, sugar-coated, threatening, and pity based appeals. Kids learn what appeal or style works best on their parents and stick to that ploy whenever they want something. Observing children in their own environment allows marketers to understand the minds of children. Advertisers conduct surveys, organize foc us groups, analyze children’s artwork, study academic literature on child development and even have cultural anthropologists observe children without them knowing. Marketers do all that research so they can get a grasp on what children are mostShow MoreRelatedKid Kustomers- Advertising845 Words   |  4 PagesThe original definition of the word â€Å"advertising† does not look that bad. It is simply explained as â€Å"calling the attention of the public to a product or business.† However, the advertising companies usually abuse the real meaning of advertising and try to sell their product no matter what it takes to do so. It is very hard not to notice advertisement in today’s world. The commercials, the adds, the posters are everywhere; from TV, newspapers magazines and billboards to even a bus that is taking usRead MoreMarketing Technique For The Marketing Of Cool By Juliet Schors And Eric Schlosser1308 Words   |  6 PagesJuliet Schor’s articl e, â€Å" Selling to children: The Marketing of Cool†, she mentions how products are accepted and interpreted by children in today’s society. However, in Eric Schlosser article, â€Å" Kid Kustomers†, he emphasizes on the constant antagonizing strategies through ads and televisions shows to target kids. Although Juliet Schors and Eric Schlosser are both speaking about corporations marketing to children, their articles differ quite significantly. While they both speak about corporation and theirRead MoreMy Children s Books Taught Me By Daniel Hade1327 Words   |  6 PagesDaniel Hade, who is a professor of language and literacy at Penn State College. In Eric Schlosser’s essay, Kid Kustomers, he explains the injustice of marketing, and the idea of â€Å"cradle to grave† advertizing. This idea of advertizing is basically to get a kid so attached or devoted to a brand/toy that they don t just buy it for themselves but for their kids in the future. Kid Kustomers helps us to better understand the book Lies My Children’s Books Taught Me by using â€Å"cradle to grave† exercisesRead MoreThe Negative Effects of Marketing on Children Essay965 Words   |  4 PagesEric Schlosser wrote an article titled â€Å"Kid Kustomers†. The main purpose of this article was to inform the readers about how advertisements are aiming towards children, so they could get their products sold. The article also states how companies base their advertisements on children’s interest and cartoon characters to attract them. In the text it stated that many parents are working, and dont have time to spend with their kids, so they spoil their kids with products. It has become easier for manufacturesRead MoreAd Takeover. Jim Fowles’ Advertising’S Fifteen Basic Appeals1371 Words   |  6 Pagesbuyer’s desire. Overall Fowles’ views on advertisements is how media has influenced our society. In Kid Kustomers, Eric Schlosser article he writes about ads appeal to our needs, meaning the ads make us feel hollow, therefore we go out and seek for love. Schlosser’s opinion corroborates with Fowles and Bordo’s ideas on how media is influencing society. I believe Schlosser has point in Kid Kustomers and how the ads have an attack on children early on and carry it throughout adolescents. He goes onRead More`` Kid s `` By Eric Schlosser1116 Words   |  5 Pageswould get if I ordered a certain meal, the bright colors, and the giant play house. I was so gullible and fell for almost every advertisement. In the article, â€Å"Kid Kustomers† by Eric Schlosser, he explains that global marketers are targeting kids for their businesses. He claims the parents tend to be too busy to spend quality time with their kids and figure spending money on them is the same as spending quality time with them. Then in Katha Pollitt’s article, â€Å"The Smurfette Principleâ € , she describesRead MoreMedia Is The Main Source Of Mass Communication877 Words   |  4 Pagessocial media also affects their social skills. If one is playing video games, they are wasting their social skills by not conversing with others. Relatively, advertising is used worldwide to target consumers. In Eric Schollser’s article titled â€Å"Kid Kustomers,† he states that most ads are targeted towards children and to influence â€Å"pester power.† This refers to children and teens troubling their parents to purchase a good seen in an ad. Overall, his article states how the younger generation is easilyRead MoreThe Effects Of Advertising On Children s Physical And Mental Health1531 Words   |  7 Pagestypes of consumers through advertisements. Advertising can effect children in a positive way but mostly in a negative way at a young age. Nowadays companies target kids more because they know it’s easy to catch their attention. Eric Schlosser was interested in the fast-food industry, he focused on children. In his article â€Å"Kid Kustomers† he argues that companies have affected young children to buy their products through advertisements. â€Å"Today children are being targeted by phone companies, oil companiesRead MoreThe Frightening Effects of Aggressive Advertising Targeting Children1386 Words   |  5 Pages such as the overwhelming bombardment of advertising directed at our children. We are so overwhelmed with work and other major issues that we overlook this negative force directed at our own kids. â€Å"Parents on the one hand have a hard time raising children the way they want to, while on the other hand, kids are being increasingly influenced by commercialism that often goes against what parents are trying to do† (Shah). Advertisers are increasingly focused on capturing the children’s attentions atRead MoreFast Food and the Risk of Childhood Obesity Essay1774 Words   |  8 Pagesmints for any kid to grab that delicious treat. Some schools in the nation have already begun the fight against the fast food epidemic, although they’re a much less percentage of the whole. The marketing strategies used by fast food brands mostly target children and adolescents. In his book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser describes the history of child marketing explaining the concept of ‘kid kustomers’ McDonalds was the first fast food chain to direct their marketing towards kids. Schlosser explains