But if you tell them that they'll be a dork if they don't, you've got their attention. You open up emotional vulnerabilities and it's very easy to do with kids because they're the most emotionally vulnerable. Others advertisers want to force children to watch ads. Take, for example, Channel One, a marketing company that coerces about eight million children to watch two minutes of ads in school each day. School is a perfect setting for advertisers, Babbit argues.
Some advertisers explicitly admit that they want to control children's minds.
Marketers believe they are succeeding. The problem is that children appear to be developing health problems because they do precisely what the ads tell them. Alcohol is a major cause of death among teenagers. It contributes significantly to motor vehicle crashes, other injuries, suicide, date rape, and family, school and other problems. It makes no sense to encourage children to drink beer or hard liquor.