谢振礼 雅思: 小孩广告
IELTS Writing Task 2
China 2018-08-11
Topic:
Nowadays a large amount of advertising is aimed at children. Some people think this can have negative effects on children and should be banned. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Essay:
Advertising aimed at children can have negative effects and should be legally restricted without being altogether banned. For that matter, is children’s advertising anything but “moral”? Or, is its negative influence often exaggerated?
Should advertisements targeting children be banned for the sake of their physical and mental health? It is true that marking targets emotions, not intellect, as it trains children to choose products not because of the actual value of the product, but because of the power of advertising that encourages impulse buying. Physically speaking, a large portion of the food items is junk food and has a visually appealing advertisement affecting children. This can influence the eating habits of children and promote unhealthy diet leading to obesity. Mentally speaking, the very young and immature minds tend to take everything (toys, for instance) shown repeatedly on TV and other advertising outlets for granted. This is also harmful to young children who are unable to tell the real world from the fake one that is non-existent. In short, that kind of advertising should be at least legally restricted, if not entirely banned.
However, when it comes to legal restrictions or banning on child advertising, most countries occupy a spot somewhere near the middle of the spectrum. At one extreme, some countries ban the tricky marketing to children under the age of 12 while, at the opposite end, are some countries where the marketing industry is self-regulated, with few regulations on the material that advertisers can broadcast to children. At this point, it can be argued that advertising geared towards children is probably not as harmful as it is believed to be. For one thing, advertisements can be a source of information that may educate children about the new and useful products that can offer a good learning opportunity to the child. As well, healthy food choices advertised the right way can prompt children to opt for a more balanced diet. From these perspectives, child advertisements need not to be banned, but instead to be self-regulated by the advertising industry.
In conclusion, while some governments see advertising aimed at children as too harmful not to be banned, most governments prefer to just keep an eye on it. Anyway, it is the “moral” responsibility of the advertising industry to self-regulate, taking children’s physical and mental health into consideration. Banning all child advertising is only politically correct, so to speak.
