How do advertisements influence children?

It is my opinion that advertisements have a huge influence on children. Advertisements are designed to influence people’s opinions and coerce them to buy things. They are effective against adults, but even more effective against children. This is because children have not developed the rational skills which allow adults to resist the influence of advertisements. Therefore, it is very easy for children to be convinced by adverts into wanting the products they sell.

Should advertising aimed at kids be prohibited?

I do not think that advertising aimed at kids should be prohibited, this would be an excessive precaution. There are many products which are designed for kids and, therefore, the advertisements need to be aimed at kids if the product is to be successful. I think it is important that advertising aimed at children is not excessive, but it should not be prohibited. Overall, if people really do not want their kids to see adverts then it is the responsibility of the parent to avoid things such as TV which have many advertisements.

What’s the difference between the toys kids play with now, and those they played with in the past?

I would say that nowadays kids play with much more complicated and advanced toys than the toys kids played with in the past. Many kids play with electronic toys such as video game consoles or hoverboards. These are often very exciting and very expensive toys which nobody had access to in the past. People used to play with simple toys such as toy cars or dolls, these toys required a lot more imagination to have fun with than toys nowadays.

Do you think parents should buy more toys for their kids or spend more time with them?

I do not think that the two options are mutually exclusive. I think parents can buy toys for their children and also spend more time with them. For example, a very common toy nowadays for children is the Nintendo Switch, however, this is also a game console that is enjoyed by many adults. Therefore, it is a toy that allows parents to spend more time with their children. However, there are some parents who use toys as a way to spend less time with their children and I think this is sad.