How Television Affects Children's Views on Race

People grow up to be the way they are for a number of reasons. Some believe that it has to do with the parents; some believe that it’s the community the person grew up in, and some people believe that its society that shows them exactly how to act or not act in the world. In Mary Strom Larson’s “Race and Interracial Relationships in Children’s Commercials,” the author sets out to find out how the white children are portrayed in television ads and how the minorities are portrayed in ads that are aimed directly towards children.

This article was considered ground breaking at the time that it was published one of the issues during 2002, because, unbelievably, it was the first study done on anything remotely close to this. The author argues that television is one of the most influential things in a child’s development of the way they view the world since it takes no special skills, like reading or an incredible amount of media literacy, to take it all in and have some kind of enjoyment out of it. Since the TV is like that, it can make a huge impact on a young child that is exposed to it starting from birth for at least three hours a day on average. Therefore, these advertisements carry a great deal of weight in the social development of a young child. It is a lot like the conversation that we were having in class the other day about where it is you learn what is “cool” and what isn’t or what you like and don’t like. We get a majority of these things from our parents, family, friends, and media from the very first day that we leave the womb we are bombarded with images and examples of what the “proper” way of living is supposed to be carried out.