Macho advertising

While I have found that advertising geared towards children's toys have become less macho; the same cannot be said about movie advertisements geared towards children.

This image of the upcomming DVD version of Dreamworks; How To Train Your Dragon, shows the main character standing in the front with his arms crossed. This pose could be deemed the don't mess with me pose. The pose is seen here again in an image of Charles Atlas, who was at one point considered the World's Most Perfectly Developed Man.

Mr. Atlas' likeness was used for many years in an add campaign for the exercise program he designed. This add campaign is considered one of the longest running and most successful add campaigns of all time. Is this a conicidence? I don't think so.

The reason this campaign was so successful is the same reason why advertisers still use it today; young boys and men associate macho with strong and strong with being a hero. Let's go back to the dreamworks movie: How To Train Your Dragon.

I have seen and enjoyed the movie, and can tell you the main character is not macho at all. Then why is it that all of the advertisements for the movie depict him as such. In the image above he is depicted as the classic macho hero, conquering the beast and getting the girl. Why?

Because as I said before as kids we learn that if your a boy you should be macho; if your macho your strong and if your strong your a hero. Now this may not seem like a big deal however, there are many implications in allowing your child to fall into this way of thinking.

• What happens if your child is not macho?
• What is the implication if your child is a girl?
• This train of thought leads to conclusions that are false.

The reality is not everyone who is macho is strong, just look at the village people. Not everyone who is strong is a hero, Mike Tyson, for example; and not every hero is macho. We need to help our children understand that being macho or strong, doesn't define who we are or what we can be. Perhaps if they start to understand this GI Joe's can go back to looking like real people.

Celebrities in advertising

From Laurel and Hardey selling us cigarettes to Dr. Spock telling us to 'Leave the Pack Behind'; Advertisers and celebrities have gone hand in hand.

Today is no different!

Milk advertisers have their ongoing 'Got Milk' advertisements using celebrities such as Hanson and Jackie Chan shown here. Sketchers shoes is also no stranger to using celebrities in advertisement. Here we see Rick Fox a basketball player and Brandi (a singer) and her daughter (illustrating advertisers using family as well).

This type of advertisement is successful with young children because they look up to celebrities and want to emulate them. This is even more evident in the clothing that is being marketed to young children. Disney's Hanna Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place and other shows can be found on T-shirts, pants, book bags and so much more.

Celebrity advertisement is perhaps the most successful with children, which is why parents need to sit down and talk about this advertising strategy in particular. One great way for parents to start this dialogue would be to visit http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks/ this website helps parents identify advertising techniques used by various companies.

Humor in advertising

While some companies such as Mc Donalds use family and friendship in the forefront of their ads; other companies such as Pepsi use humor. Even very young children will drawn to the bathroom humor, seen here, in this Pepsi twist add; and while they may not readily get the humor in the 'straw' ad, they will be curious and ask questions.

Humor is used because it catches our attention, it especially catches the attention of children. Furthermore it makes adults and children laugh and smile; these are positive feelings which we in turn associate with the brand or product. This goes along with the slogan The Joy-Pepsi.

If the children have positive feelings towards a product they are more likely to ask their parents to purchase that product. Once the children become accustomed to this product they will only want this item. This was the case with a child in my classroom today. She will not drink any soda product other then Pepsi. I asked her mother why this is so and she replied her father drank Pepsi so now she drinks it. By using humor and catching them earlier these companies are creating consumers for life.

As teachers and parents we need to be readily aware of the persuasion techniques used by advertisers

The reality is that some companies have been gearing advertising towards children for many years. Mc Donald’s is one such company. This began with the creation of Ronald the child loving clown but continues today. For example in 1992 they launched the classic ‘Do you believe in magic” commercial, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hc7gVmoMoA&feature=related which depicts a group of children singing and playing with Ronald. The commercial also features magic.

In the span of 34 seconds this commercial uses three different persuasion techniques: fun, cartoons, one could also argue they are also using a celebrity because in today’s society Ronald’s face is probably more recognizable then that of our own president.

We see a group of children gathered with Ronald when he begins to sing and perform magic for the children. The children are all smiling, dancing and following Ronald around as hamburgers, shoes and pictures come to life. They use these advertising techniques because cartoons, magic, music and puppets are all things that the children love; they now associate all these things with the McDonald's franchise. These feelings, along with the lure of a Happy Meal toy, are all the motivations that children need to beg their parents to take them to McDonald's.

We need to be aware of the techniques advertisers use so that we can inform our children and teach them to be smart consumers.