Letting Children be Children
Media and commercial literacy
47.
Alongside responsible marketing practices and effective regulation, parents and children should have a sound awareness and understanding of advertising and marketing techniques and regulation.The greater parents' awareness and understanding of marketing communications, the more they will be able to support their children in understanding and navigating the commercial world. Parents are increasingly 'digitally literate', but our qualitative research suggests that aspects of their media and commercial literacy, such as awareness and understanding of some of the newer advertising and marketing techniques, are relatively low. Parents in the qualitative research which informed this Review said they would appreciate more, and more easily accessible, information rather than specific support groups or classes.
48.
While the ASA public awareness campaign and development of the CHECK website for the industry are to be welcomed, there is currently no guidance specifically designed for parents on advertising codes for children.
49.
As the assessment by Professor David Buckingham and colleagues found (DCSF/DCMS, 2009), it is not possible to say unequivocally that children are, in all circumstances, either 'vulnerable' or 'savvy': how children respond to commercial messages depends on the context. The assessment concluded that children's consumer socialisation should be considered in terms of social as well as cognitive capabilities:
"Research on 'consumer socialisation' suggests that children gradually develop a range of skills and knowledge to do with the commercial world that help prepare them for adult life. They are neither the helpless victims imagined by some campaigners nor the autonomous 'media sawy' consumers celebrated by some marketing people. Their engagement with the commercial world is part of their everyday social experience and is very much mediated by other social relationships with family and friends."DCSF/DCMS, 2009
50.
As young people, parents and teachers become more aware of the ways in which e-commerce proliferates, children are likely to develop increased sophistication in relation to online advertising, as the evidence indicates they have done in relation to more traditional television advertising (Young, 2010).
51.
However, we remain unconvinced that simply improving the media and commercial literacy skills of children provides a sufficient response or protection. Understanding why advertisers often use models who are tall, slim and beautiful, or that some advertisements want us to make an association between a brand and greater happiness or wellbeing, does not make it any more palatable to the child who does not conform to the stereotype of good looks or for whom the cost of a brand keeps it out of reach. Nor does it 'immunise' children from the influence of marketing.
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