Advertising: Self Defence Tips for Parents and Young People!
The food industry spends a fortune promoting pre-packaged foods that are high in salt, fat, sugar and
additives. Regular consumption of these foods pose a major health risk to our
children. Advertisers think nothing of targeting children, and we have
outlined a few of their methods below. Talk to your children about this
issue, and try to help your children become discerning consumers. If you
help your children understand how advertisers influence their behaviour, the
advertising magic disappears. The danger is that we drift through life
allowing ourselves to be swayed by marketing campaigns without even realising
it.
The following are
gimmicks that are used by advertisers. See if you can spot these tricks
next time you’re watching TV!
Children’s Characters
Shrek
is used to sell chocolate breakfast cereal, and Darth Vader is used to sell burgers.
Characters like these are used to make children identify with products, and
younger children may pester parents for the product.
Health Claims
The message on a pack of Dairylea lunchables crows that the product is a "good source of calcium". This may be
true...but the product is also a good source of saturated fat and salt (with
12g saturated fat per pack, and 2g of salt per pack - it is high in both
saturated fat and salt). Foods high in saturated fat and salt are the last things that children
today need!
Omission
Advertisers often don't give
you the full story about their product. For example, if a manufacturer claims
that their product is “virtually fat free” they usually don’t mention
it when the product is very high in
sugar. If a product is touted as "90% fat free", it is still 10%
fat...which is high enough.
Free Gifts
Roald Dahl books are given
away “free” with Honey Nut Shredded Wheat. Are you buying toys/books,
food, or both?
Competitions
“Win a signed light sabre
when you buy Rice Krispies”...advertisers frequently try to tempt our children
with competitions. It's hard to evaluate the product when your child is so
interested in the competition.
Smiling Happy People
Families and kids are
always perfect in adverts, like a bunch of smiling happy robots. Advertisers use ideal imagery
so that we associate their product with perfection. When did you ever see a
guy with a beer belly in a Guinness advert?
Stars in Their Eyes...
Celebrities are paid to tell you that product X is the
best. Adverts link unhealthy foods with people who are good-looking or cool,
with the hope that consumption of the product is normalised. Ronan O’Gara is being paid to say that Lucozade sport keeps you going “33%
longer”...a dodgy enough claim. This particular product is simply a sugary
drink with a little salt, colourings and other additives...but it must be good,
Damien Duff drinks it! This tactic takes advantage of the innocent way
that children idolize celebrities.
Health By Association
David Beckham drinks pepsi, and he's a fit guy...pepsi must be
OK, right? Wrong! Click here for a review of the health effects of regular
soft drink consumption. The reason Pepsi use Beckham is that consumption
of the product is normalised...David's good health "rubs off" on the
product in the mind of the consumer. Pepsi & Coke do not care if your
children increase their risk of type II diabetes or obesity as a result of
consuming their products. They are simply interested in the bottom line.
The
Norm
Advertisers like you to feel inadequate unless you
consume their product. Parents sometimes say to us that they feel guilty
if they just offer their child water or milk - they feel that fizzy drinks are
normal. We've been bombarded with adverts showing happy kids consuming junk so
often that we believe this is the norm.
Facts and Figures
Advertisers sometimes
use facts and statistics to make a product look good. Sometimes these figures
are misleading. For example: “Lucozade sport helps top athletes go 33%
longer” (this statement is not true. The “athletes” in question were
college students who had been
starved overnight).
Repetition
Adverts keep popping up...the
same one over and over again... If you hear the name of a product over and
over again, manufacturers think you might be more likely to buy it.
Turn it down!
Sometimes the volume of
the adverts is louder than the sound for the programme, and adverts often
contain cool music (e.g. McDonalds).
Lies, Damn Lies, and Adverts
The law requires advertisers to
tell the truth, but they often use tricky ways to bend the truth. For example, most
breakfast cereals contain very little fat...and adverts make a big deal about
this, even though the products are usually full of unhealthy sugar and
salt. They’re not lying, but they’re not telling the whole truth
either.
