In brief...Young children and advertising

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

Many young children do not realise that the thousands of advertisements they are bombarded with are trying to sell them something. Dr Mark Blades from the University of Sheffield presented findings based on research involving 180 children aged six, eight and ten, to last week's British Psychological Society Developmental and Education Sections conference in Worcester. He said some six-year-olds thought TV commercials simply provided the viewer with a break to get a drink or go to the toilet, while eight-year-olds thought the adverts told viewers about what products are available in shops. But it wasn't until the age of ten that many children understood that advertisements were there to persuade them to buy something.