Commercials!!!

For our media literacy assignment, I chose to focus on the advertising of children's toys. Every channel, at all times of the day, air commercials that portray the newest, hippest versions of children's toys. Everything from Barbie, video games, Bratz Dolls and Star Wars Figurines are represented to be the cool thing to have.

Toy companies such as Mattel are continuously struggling to keep up with the growing market of entertainment for children. Everyday, new products are being explored. The success of the product really depends on the advertising marketing it. The toy companies create advertisements that target a young population. They use things like popular culture and incorporate it into their ads. The music and colors are always attention grabbing as well. In order to hold a child's attention, things need to be loud and colorful. A lot of words will not be appealing to a child. Instead, they use pictures, drawings, flashy things that are hard to miss. They also use catchy phrases, such as "all new" and "latest model"! What child wouldn't want the newest model of the hottest toy?

I think that these types of commercials draw children in very quickly. The product often looks very appealing, and the child instantly needs to have it. This may cause feelings of excitement, anticipation, and may cause the child to become stock on this product until someone is able to purchase it for them. As for the adults, this may make them feel frustrated. Often, new models come out one after another. In most cases, when the parent tries to explain to the child that they just bought a version of that toy, it causes the child to become upset at their parent.

I think that commercials advertising children's toys devalue the use of imagination. There is so much more to life then toys. The commercials have a tendency to cause the children to fixate on one object, disregarding what else is important. Fun is important, but fun can be made in many different ways!

This was a neat project. I had never considered the messages behind any one particular type of advertising before. It really made me aware of how well these marketers know how to grab the attention of their audience. It is funny how oblivious we are to these strong messages that are influencing our thoughts.