Analyzing advertisements in the classroom

Assumptions about children, young people and advertising are very common. In many academic, school or family settings, the idea that children are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of the media gets taken for granted. If we view children as being in need of greater protection from advertising than adults, this might mean that we ignore their complex cultural responses to particular advertisements. If we think children are more vulnerable to advertising influences than we are, we might also assume that all children respond in the same ways to advertisements. Unfortunately, and despite the fact that most children live with adults and gain some of their ideas from adults, adults’ competence and vulnerability within the same commercial world is less often examined. On the other hand, if we view both children and adults as thoroughly competent consumers and if advertising is about nothing but selling products, then the need to regulate advertisers appears to diminish, and the rationale for teaching about advertisements might be different.