Examine and raise questions about all forms of advertising - television, magazine, billboard, etc. Help kids understand TV genres. Help kids understand that TV is a business and that the business of commercial TV is to sell viewers to advertisers. Producers sell programs to networks. Networks sell time to advertisers.
Advertisers sell products to viewers.
Advertising does not just invite us to buy, it teaches to buy. Question children about violence on TV and consider what is appropriate viewing. Explain how television can teach that some people and ideas are more important than others. It is a reality created by producers, directors, cinematographers, actors, editors, advertisers and others, who bring to it their own specific points of view. This document is from the Government Section of the Media Awareness Network Web site.