The Exploitation of Children

Today in class we began to discuss the exploitation of children in advertisements and whether or it was ethical. My initial feeling towards it was that the process was extremely unethical. I was scared by the thought of children in the world being used as tools by the corporations. It seemed like the commercials were some how altering the children and making them nagging little pests. And in a way I still believe that, the products created for children are giving them an image which I'm not sure I want children to follow. Products like Barbie can be bad enough, but products like Bratz and Diva Dolls? Who wants little girls to play with dolls who just by their names encourage girls to be bratty and demand attention? Apparently the companies that produce and market these dolls want to create a generation of divas. But then again, I'm not sure my beef with these dolls falls under unethical. I believe the exploitation of children in advertisements is unethical because they use the children as tools.

If the children the advertisements had money and a sense of a budget, I would have less of a problem with the advertisements. The fact that these corporations are manipulating the children to influence the parent's decision to buy a toy or not makes the exploitation unethical. The research the company conducts is focused on the manipulation of children not on the toy itself. Marketing and advertising are essential to the success of the corporation, but unless the company has a quality toy to sell, marketing can only do so much. The psychologists should send more time researching the child's interest in the toy rather that than the child tendency to nag their parents.