Week 9 - Research Reflection

My topic (advertising and children) revealed a lot of interesting information I didn't know before. For example, the consumer relationship, mandates to protect children, consumer advocates, experiments measuring various effects, content analysis of television commercials aimed toward children, etc. Having done the research and understanding certain aspects of content analysis, now, when I'm watching cartoons with my nephews, I find myself analyzing the shows for product placements and gender stereotypes. I'm sure that there are people in class who have a younger family member. I think it's important to know that advertisers target children as consumers first, not citizens, which means possible negative consequences that can offer children a false sense of entitlement, limit their goals, and negatively affect their identity (buy more products or people won't like you). It's good to be informed about this stuff and have a conversation with children about how they're being pursued (fantasy vs reality, not being good enough, etc). I guess that's what I would like for people to take away from this.