Assessing the Impact of the Commercial World on Children's Wellbeing

This was a government consultation on the Impact of the Commercial World on the well being of children and young people. Below you can see the results of our report that we sent to them outlining children and young people's views:

A Young NCB Response – 30 June 2008

Twenty-six Young NCB members responded to this consultation online and six young people were part of a focus group to discuss the issue. What follows is a collection of their views. All respondents live in England.

Monitoring Information

Age Number of respondents

The Call for Evidence

1 a) What do you think is good about the advertising you see?
The main response was that good advertising is eye-catching, and it is colourful advertising that captures their interest. They “enjoy different ideas and images which are attractive and funny”.

It was also said that good advertising is informative and “makes you become more aware of products available that cater to your interests and give you information about what is available to you”. It was suggested that good advertising “lets you know about products you can buy and use and things to do”.

One young person thought that good advertising can help subsidise public transport and that when advertising is done well it can be effective in promoting organisations, such as charities, to get donations.

The respondents feel it is very important that advertising is honest so that they know “what they see is what they get”. A number of respondents said that advertising is influential and “shows us the way to live.” In contrast, other young people think that adverts are a waste of time, as they don’t work. However, during the focus group when asked about specific brands, such as Nike, or Coke, they remembered the adverts and suggested that these ones were the “cool brands”. This is an indication that they are unaware of how advertising works and the potential power behind it.

1 b) What do you think is bad about the advertising you see?

There were five strong messages that came out of the answers to this question:

1. Advertising can contribute to peer pressure and bullying
Some of the young people admitted that if their friends get something that has been advertised and is popular, they feel like they often want the same thing which puts pressure on parents and carers who “don’t want their child to be bullied or have to wear cheap stuff but they may not have enough money and feel guilty about it”. It was also suggested that this pressure to have material things could lead to stealing if a young person or parent/carer had no other way of obtaining the products.

2. Advertising portrays an unrepresentative view of our society
There was a lot of discussion during the focus group around body image and how advertisers use mainly “skinny people”, “airbrushed women” and “stereotyped models”, making people think that they “have to be a size zero which causes people to take drastic measures and causes lots of unhappiness”. This promotion of unrealistic and unhealthy images makes the young people involved in this consultation feel under pressure to conform to certain images. One young person disclosed that he used to do press-ups while still at primary school in attempt to get a ‘six-pack’.

Another comment was that advertising often promotes the image of the nuclear family, which they feel is unrepresentative.

3. Advertising can be misleading and manipulative
Some of the young people had had experiences of buying products because they were either misled about the quality of the product – “when you go buy it, the product actually breaks with in a couple of days” – or had been manipulated into buying something – “it makes you want to buy things you don’t need and makes you want branded products instead of high street products.” One young person commented that “most advertising is covert, so we as consumers are being manipulated without seeing how.”

They also feel that they do not receive enough or clear information about the products being advertised, therefore are unable to make informed decisions about whether it is a necessary purchase.

4. Some advertising is immoral
There was a view that advertising often does not take into account what is morally right and wrong because “it’s a business’s way of selling its products” and selling is their priority.  Young people commented that “some things are not so good for youths eyes to see” and that advertising can “promote negative things.”

5. Advertising stereotypes young people
It was commented that advertising should take some responsibility for its contribution to the negative representation of young people in the media because of the stereotyped images that are often created in campaigns. One respondent reflected that some advertisers “give a bad name to all young people”.

2 a) What do you like about shopping?

The main thing that they like about shopping is how it makes them feel. Many of them said it makes them feel happy and the happiness came from “getting attention”, “having the latest gear”, “the buzz of wearing a new outfit and wearing it and everyone complementing it”. Many of them said that they enjoy the social aspect: “I just enjoy it, especially when I go with my friends”, “you can go with your friends and have a laugh”, “being with my friends trying things on”.

The female respondents remarked that liking shopping was ‘a girl thing’; “Well I’m a female, I love new clothes, mainly shoes”, “[like] everything really, but I am a girl”.
Some of them enjoy the diversity of products and stores available to them giving them a wide choice of things to buy.

2 b) What don't you like about shopping?

Although the young people feel happy when shopping, they commented that the happiness is sometimes short-lived: “buying nice things only makes you happy for a little while”, “if you buy nice clothes it only makes you happy for about an hour.”

They also experience feelings of guilt when shopping; many of them feel like they are “wasting money” and that they are “buying too many products” and “buying rubbish that you don’t need”.  They acknowledged that it sometimes came down to greed; “wanting things you can’t afford”, “always something else you want.”

The cost of products was a common reason given for not liking shopping, as well as the attitude towards them from staff working in shops: “sometimes you get kicked out of shops or people look at you suspiciously.”

3 a) Apart from adverts in magazines and on television are there any other ways companies get in touch with you? 

From the online consultation:

Yes 72%    No 20%     Not sure 8%

• Email subscriptions
• Internet (including pop-ups)
• Flyers
• Posters
• Phone
• Radio
• Through school
• Email
• Posters on the bus
• SMS
• People standing in shopping malls
• Through community centres and youth groups
• Cinema

3 b) In your opinion what is good and bad about these other kinds of marketing and promotion?

The young people struggled to find good points about the other kinds of advertising they mentioned. The positive comments were: ”Radio is good because you can’t see it” and “Everyone sees billboards”.

The overwhelming majority of the remarks about the different types of marketing and promotion were negative. Many of the young people find them annoying and intrusive, and think that advertising through the post, which they classed as junk mail, is bad for the environment.

One young person commented on how online advertising makes things easy to buy, but did not see this as a good point: “It’s available at the touch of a button and you can easily order goods online and not realise how much you have spent. This could easily lead to being overdrawn”.

4 Have you ever asked your parents or carers for things that they would not normally buy because you felt pressure to do so?

From the online consultation:

Yes 40%     No 56%      Not Sure 1%

Those that answered yes gave the following reasons for this:

”All my friends have certain items so I have asked my parents for them too”
“Asked for the new Wii machine and Wii fit only today because two of my friends have got it.”
Although on the occasions when they were told by their parents that they could not have what they wanted, they dealt with it well:

”Mum told me no because unlike my friends I got a laptop at Christmas, which I accepted.”
“Occasionally they let me have them but often they don’t. However now I normally only ask for things I want rather than things all my friends have.”

5 Do your parents or carers let you spend money on what you want?

From the online consultation: Yes 53.8%    No 41.7%

Although over half of those who responded said yes, there are many conditions that their parents set before allowing them to spend their money. Some parents wish to have a say in what their child is spending their money on:

“They would not let me buy alcohol, or cigarettes or drugs if I wanted to”
“I’m only allowed to buy things my parents feel are worth spending money on”
“My mum makes sure it’s not spent on unnecessary things like sweets, magazines and things I’m never going to use.”
Those allowed to spend their money on what they want are given a monthly allowance to do so or have part time jobs, and one young person commented that his parents would rather let him “learn by his own mistakes.”

6 Are you worried about the number of promotional ideas and adverts you see or that get sent to you?

From the online consultation:

Yes 56%  No 44%

Those that attended the focus group were not overly worried, but when discussing the downside of advertising they mainly focussed on the inconveniences that came with it, including: pop ups interrupting what they are doing online and adverts interrupting TV programmes.

Comments from young people who responded to the online survey suggested that they find receiving promotional messages and adverts a source of irritation: “I get too many unwanted messages. it gets on my nerves”, “They're annoying”. Again, they were concerned about the impact this has on the environment, and they think that companies are wasting paper. One young person commented that as they get older they are better able to deal with too many adverts, but that his may be more difficult for younger children: “As I grow up I become wiser and can learn to ignore it at times but I worry more for the younger generation”.

7 Are there any other comments you would like to make?

Additional comments from the online respondents were:

“Advertising should definitely be decreased to younger children who have less control over their spending”
“I believe that its ok for businesses to promote their products but they need to consider going on it in the right manor using the right approach not bribing people”
“Parents need to get tough with their kids and say no and not give in”
“If you do make an advert than always make sure it's very colourful, bright and eye catching”.
The young people involved in the focus group were asked an additional question – What should/could be done to address the impact of the commercial world/media on young people?

Their suggestions were as follows:

Work needs to take place to promote more positive images of young people in the media – “our own parents are suspicious of us because of what they hear”. In addition, the public need to be helped to understand the problems young people who get in trouble might be facing – “if they say bad things about young people then we will do bad things because we have nothing to lose”
Increase restrictions on junk food advertising – the young people feel that companies are dressing unhealthy food up to look healthy. They seemed to be confused about the healthy eating messages they are receiving. 
Government should work with magazines to regulate the messages they give young people about body size and diets.
Government should work with makers of TV programmes so that young characters do not glamorise unhealthy lifestyles – for example “they drink and smoke but look like they are having a really nice life”.