Last month, after reviewing 1,000 studies conducted over 30 years, a coalition of professional organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, linked violent media to aggressive behavior. As the recent FTC report confirms, the entertainment industry intentionally markets violent content to children through products it officially rates as unsuitable. At a time when childhood obesity has become a major public health problem, the fast-food industry is the biggest advertiser on television. At the same time, advertisers present children with models who are impossibly slim. Over one-third of girls in grades 5 to 8 report dieting in the last year, and studies document that discontent with body images rises with exposure to fashion magazines.
Advertising even affects the way children play.
The most advertised, bestselling toys are linked to media programs. Yet children often play less creatively with toys based on characters from television and film. Young children are vulnerable to marketing exploitation. They tend to believe what they see, they don't understand that ads are meant to sell them something, and they have trouble differentiating between commercials and programming. The deregulation of children's television in 1984 made it possible to use programs to promote toys, further blurring the line between ads and shows.