Children's Programming and Advertising

My blog is about children's programming and advertising. Advertisements are everywhere. It is impossible to avoid, especially for children who watch television for 3 to 5 hours everyday. Children can be easily influenced by advertisements. They beg their parents to buy these products they see on television regardless if they need it or not. Children are bombarded with all sorts of advertisements. For example, food, clothing, electronics and toys. Research provided by the American Psychology Association shows that children under the age of eight are unable to understand advertisements on television and are most likely to accept these advertisements as being truthful. The targeting of children under eight should be prohibited.

Children's Educational Television

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has strict guidelines about children's programming and advertisement. Recent studies have shown that children in the United States watch about three hours of television daily. This means that the cable networks could very easily take advantage of young children for advertising purposes if they are not regulated. The FCC regulates and protects children from being taken advantage of. Congress has determined that broadcast networks must offer educational and informational children's programming with limited commercials and advertisement. 
In 1990, Congress enacted the Children's Television Act to increase the amount of educational programming for children. This act brings the attention of core programming to the networks. Core programming was made to serve children aged sixteen and under to help them with their cognitive and emotional needs. The goal of core programming is to prepare the children for the outside world and give them the confidence that they will need. The FCC is strict on the guidelines of core programming, for example it must be aired between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm and must be at least a thirty minute program.
The FCC also limits the amount of commercial time during children's programming. The FCC only allows 10.5 minutes of advertisement on weekdays during children programming and only 12 minutes per hour on weekends. Cable networks and providers are responsible for keeping records to prove that they are following the rules of the FCC. The FCC also eliminates Host Selling. Host selling is using program characters to sell a product or service. The FCC believes that host selling is unethical and not fair to such a young audience. I believe that the FCC is acting appropriately with setting guidelines about children's programming. It is our responsibly to protect our children from being taken advantage of by companies looking to make a profit.                        

Junk Food Ads and Kids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5ahMQwxN9Js

This commercial from the common sense media explains how unhealthy food company's target young children to make a profit. Millions of dollars are spent on these ads in order to promote unhealthy sugary foods to young children who do not know any better. They come up with ways to sell their products in the most entertaining and  memorable ways. They often use cartoon characters and famous stars to promote these junk food ads, As parents you can try to control some of this advertising by having your children avoid the ads. You can use a DVR to fast forward through commercials. As a parent you can also identify the ads and point them out to your children and explain why these products are no good. Last, you can explain the star factor and let your children know that they are being paid to promote the junk food. We need to start protecting our young against theses corporations who target them and get our children on a healthy track.

Worst Programs for Children

             
  Jessie is a show on the Disney Channel. She is from Taxes and moved to New York to babysit and become a nanny for a Brangelina couple who adopted four children from around the world. In this show, it shows our children that it is acceptable to behave like a brat and get everything you ask for. The children that Jessie watches are very rich and have all the new fashionable clothing. All four kids on the show have attitude problems and it is never addressed by the parents. This show lets our children grow up with attitudes and disrespect. This show is promoting to our young to grow up faster than needed. Ravi, Emma, Zuri and Luke are the children that she babysits for. The show is full of stereotypes. For example: Ravi was adopted from India and talks with an exaggerated accent, talks about peace, tigers, fortune telling, curry and yoga. Typical for a person from India. Zuri was adopted from Africa as a baby. Even though Zuri was raised since day one by an upper class white family, she still uses phrases like "mmmmmmhmmmm" and "oh no you didn't", both spoken in a very stereotypical black way. Emma is a typical white girl who is a dumb blonde. All she talks about is boys, fashion, glitter and celebrity gossip. She is constantly screaming and acting like a drama queen. Last but not least is Luke. Luke is a typical boy who is always flirting and hitting on older girls. He is always commenting on their bodies, sometimes using sexual gestures.
 

Dog with the blog is a another show on the Disney Channel. It's about a dog who has his own website and he can talk. This show is very unrealistic. The young girls on the show wear so much make up and it makes normal young girls want to do the same. This is another show promoting young girls to grow up at an accelerate pace. On this show Stan (the dog) is always talking to strangers online and tries to set up arrangements to meet at different places. Since Stan is a dog, it would be silly for him to go alone. So he brings Ellen who the mother on the show. This program is teaching our kids bad habits. It is never a good ideal to meet strangers online, especially if your a young child. Children watching this show may get the wrong impression and think that it is okay to go meet strangers. Avery is always into makeup and having a good looking boyfriend. She has her priorities wrong and is teaching other young children to act like her. Chloe is the youngest sister on the show. She is very sassy but is always looking up to Avery and learning everything from her including her bad habits. Tyler is the older brother who is always taking his selfie and trying to look good for the girls. He is not very interested in school, just in the girls. This show is sending the wrong message to our younger audience.

                                                                                         


                                                                                            Sponge Bob Square Pants
Recent research on children's television shows has put Sponge Bob Square pants, a cartoon show from the Nickelodeon channel in a bad predicament. Researchers have came to the conclusion that Sponge Bob Square pants is a fast-paced show that is brain frying for young viewers. The young minds that the show attracts simply can not handle the fast-paced fantasy show. There is so much going on that their minds get overwhelmed and full of exhaustion. Nickelodeon has stated that their show "Sponge Bob Square pants" was developed for children between the ages of six to eleven. Although with the shows bright colors and crazy agenda, it has attracted viewers of younger ages. About 39% of the shows viewers are aged between two and five. Recent studies have shown that the show can cause children of young ages to do poorly in school and develop attention problems. Parents should regulate what shows their children are watching to prevent these learning problems from taking place.

Educational Shows that Benefit Children

We can't say that all the children's programming has bad affects on children, There are some children's programming that has good affects on children. For example: Wallykazam, Umizoomi and Wild Kratts.


         Wallykazam
Wallykazam is an educational animated television program that can be found on the Nickelodeon channel. Wallykazam is intended for children aged from two to seven. Viewers can follow Wallykazam through magical adventures while learning early vocabulary and the spelling of words. The show also helps children learn to read by teaching them how to recognize letters and sound out words. The show does a great job of keeping the viewers entertained while teaching them at the same time. Children who watch this show will benefit from the educational promotions and develop higher learning skills. I believe that this is a great show for children to watch and it will help them do better in school.

                                                                                                                                      Team Umizoomi
Team Umizoomi is also an educational animated show intended for children aged two to five. Team Umizoomi can be found on the Nick Jr channel. The three main characters, Milli, Geo, and Bot work together as a team to solve problems. Team Umizoomi are math experts and teach children how to count and identify patterns and shapes through problem solving stories. Team Umizoomi holds the attention of children while teaching them the beginning steps in mathematics. The show is created equally for both boys and girl and will take your children on a mathematical adventure. Viewers of this show will get a head start and be more prepared for the classroom.


Wild Kratts

Wild Kratts is an educational show that can be found on the PBS Kids channel. This show is ideal for kids aged 5 to 9. This show will take your children on an adventure to explore the animal kingdom and makes science exciting. Each episode begins by introducing an animal and explains their traits. The Kratt brothers do a great job at keeping the attention of young children. The show is animated and children can get to learn about animals up close and personal. Your children will get to explore the world and learn about exotic animals that come from across the world.

Conclusion

There are many types of programming for children on the television. Some programming can be educational and promote learning techniques, other shows can affect children negatively and promote bad behavior. As parents it is your responsibility to monitor your children and keep an eye on the programming that they watch. According to our recent survey 53% stated that some of the Disney channel shows and movies are inappropriate for children. Parents should encourage their children to watch educational programming, studies have shown that it will only increase your children's learning capabilities.  Parents should also warn their children about ads that target them for profit. Many companies take advantage of  young minds to sell products and make a profit. Parents should also monitor these ads and explain to their children the purpose of these certain ads. According to our recent survey, 100% of the people stated that children who spend most of their time watching T.V. are more likely to have lower grades in school, read fewer books and be overweight. Parents should encourage children to participate in other activities and limit the amount of television being watched. In my opinion, I don't believe that its our children's fault. They learn from what they see and hear. It is up to the parents to protect and teach them better.

References 

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/childrens-educational-television

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5ahMQwxN9Js

http://kayfil.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/why-jessie-is-the-worst-show-on-disney-channel/

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/is-spongebob-squarepants-bad-for-children/?_r=0

http://kidstvmovies.about.com/od/Wallykazam/fl/Wallykazam-TV-Show-Review.htm

http://kidstvmovies.about.com/od/teamumizoomi/fr/TeamUmizoomiRev.htm

http://kidstvmovies.about.com/od/wildkratts/fr/Review-For-Parents.htm