The Social Consequences of TV Commercials

We all remember that one toy that we always wanted as we were growing up. It could’ve been that special army guy, a little doll, that Radio Flyer wagon that you could get your friends to roll you around in or, for my generation, that awesome video game where you could get Mario to take on the evil King Koopa and save the princess. Whatever it might have been we would have probably found out about it from the televisions ads that they showed during all of our favorite shows. If we got that special toy/game we would go call our friends or go over to their house and show off what a cool toy we had. Then, inevitably, that friend would bother his parents until they got one and we could play with them together. What was tough was if our parents weren’t able or willing to get it for us, every time we saw that ad or we hung out with that friend that had the toy we wanted we thought of how much we wished we could have that. 

Today we find ourselves somewhat susceptible to the ads we see on television, but it wasn’t nearly the same as back in the day when we were young and naïve. Now a days we understand that the whole point of commercials are to get you to buy something and it almost becomes a spiteful thing that. Like we won’t go buy a product just because this company is trying to shove it down your throat. It’s like we’re saying “I know what you want me to do and you can’t tell me what to do. I’m my own person.” The thing is back when we were kids we didn’t really understand the point of these commercials and why the same commercials were always on while we were waiting for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to come back on. Now that we’re older we recognize what commercials are doing, but what do they do to the children now? The point of this is to find out what effects TV ads have on the way children see themselves and their parents, on how they see other races and what kind of impact commercials really make on a child’s life.

Parent-Child Relations