More than $ 10 billion is spent each year on advertising for fast food targeting children in many ways. Most of these ads are for foods and beverages that are high in fat, sugar, calories, salt, and low in nutrients. It’s not so much the ad itself as the tactic used to entice our kids to love your product. The most obvious means of communication is television advertising. Marketing gurus know how to get into children’s minds and how to get the most wanted response. They know that children can and do influence their parents when it comes to buying food.
On average, children watch more than 40,000 commercials a year, most of which are for candy, cereal, toys, and fast food restaurants. Advertising for kids’ fast food is not just limited to fast food restaurants. If it’s fast and it’s food, then it’s fast food. It’s fair to say that fast food advertising is big business. Also, trying to prevent children from watching television is a daunting task, especially since many children have televisions in their bedrooms. The methods used for advertising are within the standard for advertising. Businesses spend money to get their product noticed by what their target audience should be. In other words, it would be difficult to find a 60 Minutes ad for Cocoa Krispies, just as it would be difficult to find an ad on the Nickelodeon channel for TDWaterhouse.
Stealth tactics
Today’s kids have more purchasing power, they are tomorrow’s consumers, and because they influence their parents in shopping, a whole new audience is opening up for marketers. Children are much more vocal than they used to be and are not afraid to speak up when they want something. Advertisers call it Pester Power. I call it annoying. In other words, children are not afraid to kick and yell for their parents to buy something. Advertising for fast food aimed at children is all about Pester Power and marketers rely on children to scold parents rather than marketing directly to parents. They know that marketing to children will generate better results. Marketers divide Pester Power into 2 categories. Nagging persistence and nagging importance. Nagging persistence is repeatedly begging. The importance of annoyance, on the other hand, is what marketers trust. It’s about supporting your children and the guilt that comes from not being sufficiently available for your children. There are many tactics used in advertising for fast food aimed at children, such as the toys that are included with the meals and the pieces of the monopoly games. Fast food companies will claim this is to provide a more enjoyable visit to their store for parents, but it is actually prompting kids to crave fast food.
Internet and viral marketing
Advertising for kids’ fast food is not just limited to television. The Internet; which is more profitable and viral marketing have also become ad space. Internet marketers know how kids use the web and how popular sites like MySpace and Facebook are. They also know that kids love to click on links. If it says, click here, they do. Many websites offer free ringtones and music downloads. In order to get the gift, an email address is required and therefore the cross-promotion campaigns start to create ads for kids fast food through email marketing.
We can’t stop advertising for fast food aimed at children, but we can control television viewing time. Less family TV time may reduce fast food hassles and create a more nutritious and healthy home environment.