Introduction
“Responsible TV and Internet Advertising Needed to Reduce Childhood Obesity.” is the title of one of the advertising articles. The author of the article is a lady whose name is Tracy Rose. The main theme of the article is to curb junk food ads that are targeted at children and teens and replace them with responsible advertising.
The article is important because it indicates how junk food advertising increases the problem of obesity and overweight among children and teens. According to Rose, although the ads are not completely responsible for causing obesity amongst children, they play a great role in it. Rose shows that the choice of food and drinks that teens and children eat and drink is greatly influenced by the ads that they come across, as they determine the choice they make.
As Rose indicates, TV plays a great role in this problem mainly because when ads are not shown during the children viewing hours, their views are reducing by 41%. Also, Rose indicates that when junk food ads are not shown during children viewing time, an 18% reduction of obesity amongst children is observed.
Article Analysis
Another importance of the article is that it indicates media other than a TV that portrays junk food ads thereby increasing the problem of obesity and overweight amongst children. The communication channels indicated by Rose include magazines, the internet, marketing in schools, as well as social websites which are of interest to teens and children. According to Rose, these communication channels place ads for fast food, candy, unhealthy breakfast options, and sugary cereals, and thereby affect the choice the children make.
The promotional strategy study encompasses applying every item in the promotional mix. The article deals with the study of promotional strategy because it shows how advertisers apply advertising and the ‘pull’ tactic to influence the choice of children. According to Rose, advertisers are aware of the fact that children have a likelihood of clicking on the internet links, and the links which offer free downloads. They, therefore, use this as a meant of making children be drawn more. This is because the children consider a free download link as a discount, which is one of the sales promotion strategies, hence forming a tie.
According to Rose, other techniques that advertisers use to appeal include product discussion, competitions, video links, among others. This is tied to the promotional strategy study as advertisers apply integrated marketing communication to appeal to their target customers. Through these techniques, they can target children and teens more. Another way of targeting the children is to utilize segmentation to ‘pull’ them into participating.
Segmentation, as a promotional strategy, enhances the message being communicated to reach more people. Rose shows that the advertisers can utilize this strategy, as they identify with children by interacting with them through social websites that interest them, thus studying their buying habits, their habits as per media consumption, and the income they have at their disposal.
In the article, Rose shows advertising as one of the mass media approaches used to promote junk food. The article attaches to promotional strategy study in that magazines, TV, outdoor (marketing in schools), and the internet are indicated as some of the ways that ads are passed to children. Social media that falls under digital marketing, which is another promotional strategy, has been indicated in the article as another way the advertisers target children.
Rose has shown that advertisers also use competitions that fall under sales promotion to target the children, thus a tie. TV, which passes on information free of charge and which is affordable to many if not all, has been indicated in the article as a key player in influencing children’s food choices. According to Rose, when ads are played while children are watching, the rate of ad views increases. This deals with the promotional strategy because when ads are played at the right time for the targeted audience, more response is received.
Conclusion
Another way the article relates to the promotional strategy study is that the ads posted are those that attract the children more. Most, if not all children, like to eat sugary foods. Hence, when they see the ads, they do not put into consideration whether the foods are healthy or not. All they care about is that it is sweet and well packaged. This can be connected to the promotional strategy of branding. This is because the advertisers aim to sell, and hence they brand and package their items in a way that will attract the customer more by using a positioning strategy, which is a promotional strategy.
Lastly, Rose suggests that children should be taught to take the mails they receive concerning this issue as junk. This forms a tie to the promotional strategy study in that advertisers apply direct marketing while communicating with their consumers by sending emails to them, personal letters, or bulk mails. This creates more awareness, and hence, more responses from the targeted customers. However, the targeted customer can choose to respond to the advert, or not respond.
Work Cited
Rose, Tracy. Responsible TV and Internet advertising needed to reduce childhood obesity. 2011. Web.