Sahm/student Needs Other Moms Help!!

I personally prefer channels like NPT (National Public Television) that do not have commercials but as they kids get older, they do not want to watch the same shows all the time. The other channels have WAY too many commercials and they are not even always for children! My children do say they want everything they see! They call me in the room all the time saying, "mommy, come quick, I want that!" and I have to go running. I think they teach children to want, they decrease their attn span, they teach children to focus more on something and then pinpoint certaint things that they shouldn't be noticing. Many commercials are geared for older children but the show they are watching might be geared for younger.

W.

My daugher, Niece and her boyfriend just ordered Pizza from Pizza Hut a couple of weeks ago because of an ad on TV.

Funny you are asking about this, I just noticed things going on this week. My son is almost 5 and is out-growing some of the shows on Noggin and Sprout. I really don't like for him to watch just any cartoon, like Spongebob or the older kid ones, so he hasn't been exposed to very many commercials.
I love PBS, Sprout and Noggin because those channels because there are NO commercials. He recently fell in love with Tom and Jerry on Boomerang and good grief, what about those commercials?! He didn't pay much attention to them but this past week EVERY one that came on is, 'I want that', regardless of what it is, boy or girl.
I don't know if it's the age or maybe because it's getting closer to Christmas, but he has certainly picked up on advertising!
Good luck with the research!

My son ABSOLUTELY is affected by TV marketing. He wants EVERYTHING he sees and wants to see every movie featured, even if the thought of it scares him.

That said, our children are not allowed to have any screen time (TV, video games, computer) until they are 3. At three they are given the opportunity to earn the privilege of one hour per day of screen time, divided however they choose. It is not a given that they will get it, it is a privilege they must earn. At three that entails remembering to comb hair, pick up toys, basically being obedient throughout the day. At seven that includes all chores, homework, etc being finished, on time, to specifications. They are allowed one hour total, whether they want to spend all that time on sesame street or divide it between tv, video games, and computer time. We monitor everything and do not allow them to watch most of what is on tv. We will not buy video games rated higher than G and sit beside the child while on the computer. We only allow certain kids' websites (eg, webkinz, pbskids, brainpop, etc).

Even with the limited exposure, my kids still want everything they see (particularly because most of what they see through this media is kid-targeted). The answer, typically, is no - or (until recently) - "It's good to WANT things" or it's good not to get everything you want. It particularly angers me as a parent when my children HAVE earned screen time and CANT watch TV when they want to bc there's a bunch of talk shows about sex and lesbians and how to enlarge one's genitals. Couple that with ensuing tampon, viagra, and bladder control commercials (MOM!!!! WHAT'S ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION MEAN?!) and we've gotten to the point that the TV only comes on if we're having family movie night.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

If you have time watch the movie The Corporation. It's about how corporations use psychologist to develop commercials that make kids nag nag nag until they get what they want. They invest millions of dollars on research to see how to convince kids that they need something and then get their parents to give it to them.

My kids do not watch TV during the week. But on weekends they mostly watch PBS. When they do see commercials we discuss what is being said and question the companies motivation behind the commercial. Also we discuss needs vs. wants.

My mom says that my first phrase was "Let's go Krogering." Oh, and my little sister used to ask for things (like food) using the catchphrase from the commercial. ("Mom, can I have some chocolate milk 'think quick'?")... I agree w/ Amber: kids are so impressionable and even if you let them watch decent tv shows, half the time the commercials are ten times worse, so I try to limit my son to PBS. Good luck w/ your paper!

Yes, ads do effect children. My daughter watched a baby doll ad about cutting the dolls hair and pulling on it and it would grow back. Well, she cut ALL her hair off during the middle of the night needless to say and the next morning when I took her into the bathroom to let her see herself in the mirror - she pulled on a tiny tiny little piece and said, "It grows back on TV Mommy!!!" Needless to say we haven't ever let her forget that one!!! LOL!

I have four daughters who watch tv and listen to the radio so they are exposed to ads. Sometimes they ask for things advertised but not always. They are more knowledgeable of products because of the ads. For example, my daughter knew what toys were in the happy meals at McD. & BK because of commercials and chose to eat at BK- she wanted an ipet. I think the ads open up discussion on topics, such as wants vs. needs, politics (esp. right now), budgeting and more. I don't have a problem with most commercials- it's the ads geared to adult males that really bother me. They often use sex to sell items and I find it objectifies women and since I have four young daughters, it is offensive. We are all into sports but I don't feel comfortable letting them watch sports with their Dad sometimes only because of the ads during the breaks.

Hi R.,

My daughter is almost 20 months old and she doesnt watch TV. She started to show an interest a few months ago, so I turn it off if she starts to watch. I dont have it on during the day, except starting around 6:00pm when I need to decompress a little. I grew up addicted to TV and dont want her to be that way. She will not have a TV in her bedroom. I do blame ads and shows for our babies growing up so fast and having sex so early. Children are bombarded with images of sex and shows full of sexual topics. And movies that were once rated R are now PG-13 so they sell more tickets. The whole violence thing is another issue. I think parents need to be responsible for what their children watch and how much. Hope this helps.

L.

yes they affect my children, especially the food part.
If the add is enticing enough the kids ALWAYS want me to get that at the grocery store.

The adds about disney world get them only because they are kid oriented and they want to go see Mickey. How I handle it is tell them that we will go one summer when you get older or when we get the money and the time.

The TV is not on very much in my house, but when it is on, it strongly impacts the way my two boys (2 and 4) act AND speak. The other day, we were thinking of ordering pizza and my 4 year old said, "get Papa John's, they have better ingredients." I asked him what "ingredient" means and he couldn't answer. If my kids catch a glimpse of a violent show, even something like Batman or Spiderman cartoons, it takes DAYS to stop the battles between them. They're only pretending, so they don't realize that kicks and punches really hurt!

Here is a whopper. Last year when my son was 5 years old he saw a commercial that just intrigued him. Besides the name of the product being interesting to him so were the colors on the screen and the jingle it played.
The commercial was for BAM! the cleaning product. My son didn't know at first what the product was. As he watched the commercial more he figured it out.
He was so convinced that the product worked as stated on the commercial that he demanded I buy it. If we were at the store he would demand, if we were at home he would demand, at bedtime he would demand. I dont know why. And if he saw me cleaning he told me that BAM! was better.
He said, "Mom, the commercial said that it works on everything."
I was so surprised at how he was drawn in to a product that he himself would not use. If it was a toy I would understand. But a cleaning product?
I believe it's all about the jingle and the bright colors the ads project. If the commercials can't get the adult's attention then they will go for the children. God Bless~

My son will be 4 in November. I work full time as does his father and he goes to a daycare 5 days a week. When we get home at night we let him watch tv before dinner and sometimes we'll watch it during dinner together (having a picnic on the floor). We have satellite tv so we digitally record shows and can fast forward thru commercials. There have been times he does see commercials and it seems like he always is saying "Oh, I want that" or "Oh, we should see that". And it's stuff he should know nothing about. He is almost 4 - he shouldn't be watching Batman and Spiderman...but he knows who they are from older children at school but also from COMMERCIALS! That is why last year when he wasn't even 3 yet, he wanted to be Spiderman for Halloween. The channels I love are the ones that do not show commercials...or atleast not long or bad ones trying to get you to buy stuff. I love PBS and Boomerang. With how commercials are now and days...I love my DVR.

I hope this helped some...sorry it was so rambly. :o)

Up until we got the digital converter box for our television, the only tv station our kids ever watched was PBS, which of course doesn't have standard advertising. When they watched PBS, they never seemed to care what came on between the shows, and since the ads don't interrupt a program they are interested in I don't think they even noticed them. However, there is a children's cartoon channel that we are now able to get that we couldn't before, and for the first couple of weeks, our boys (6 and 4) would rush into the living room in the morning to turn it on. Multiple times I would walk in, and they would be riveted not to cartoons but to the commercials (mostly infomercials) in between segments of programming. They literally memorized them! They can recite word for word the "benefits" of the Sonic brush cleaner (My 6 year old informed me that we "needed" it because, he said, "It cleans even the toughest") as well as the Pancake Puff maker (my four year old will tell you if you get one, "you'll never have to order pizza again"). Additionally, my 6 year old has picked up on the idea of what constitutes a desirable body image "as seen on tv", something that he never noticed or cared about till seeing ads for home gym equipment and weight loss supplements. Until their introduction to this form of advertising, my children NEVER asked for or expressed a "need" to buy things other than an occasional request for a new Hot Wheels. As a result, we have banned tv viewing unless a parent is in the room (to mute the ads or change the channel). Initially it was kind of funny, but as a mom, when you stop to think how little time it took for someone to convince your innocent child that he must have 6 pack abs and no body fat, it's pretty disturbing. They didn't watch much tv anyway (at most an hour a day) but we really try to steer them to other activities since seeing their reaction to the ads in particular. Hope this helps your project (it sounds like it's an interesting one). Good luck with it.

I'm on board. I actually JUST turned the television station from a Cartoon Network or Boomerang to Noggin (they don't do ads) this morning BECAUSE of toy ads! My 3 year old son has already started to be affected by them. He's sees something and knows if it's for a boy or girl; if it's for a boy, he instantly asks for it, and if it's for a girl, he asks if his sister can get it! It's so crazy. Anyway, usually I don't mind it too much, since it does give me some ideas for Christmas, etc (and my kids know they're not getting it just because they saw it on tv!). But today, I was not in the mood for "Mommy, can I get that????, PLEASE???" So I changed to a kids show with no toy ads.
As for regulating tv, I just use some common sense. I don't mind tv, mostly noggin, because of it's educational value. However, if my kids have not had any other activity, project, or outside playtime, then I make them turn it off. That's basically my monitoring.
Hope it helps!

My 5 year old is definitely influenced by commercials. He memorizes all the jingles and catch phrases and will blurt them out at the most random moments. We find it pretty amusing though because it's usually pretty harmless since he only sees commercials that are on during kid's shows. I also have a 2 year old and although both of them will see toys on commercials and immediately ask for them, they soon forget and move on to something else. My oldest will remember them if he really was interested in them, but he knows to ask for it for Christmas or his birthday. One funny story about my brother...years ago, he was working on a project for kindergarten and he had to clip out pictures from magazines that started with every letter of the alphabet. He brought a picture of cheese to my mom for the letter K. She said, "Cheese doesn't start with the letter K, it starts with C." And he replied, "No, America spells cheese, K-R-A-F-T."

Hi! I am a mother of two with one on the way. I have a 8yr old boy and a 6yr old girl with a little girl due at the begining of Dec. I am so glad that you are writing a paper on the adds. My husband and I get so disgusted over them. We monitor there tv shows but, we have no control on the adds!!! That to me is awful! My son is at a age where he does not need to see half naked girls on tv or people making out!! This is definately a very touchy subject for me and my husband. Why should we have to explain some of those horrable adds to him. He should not even know half of what they show. So to me I think that they should not be allowed to show anything sleezy or sexy on the adds. The shows they put out are terrible but, at least we can control if they watch them or not but, the adds are just there. That is my two cents worth.

I HATE TV ADS!!!! My 11 year old daughter was watching the Animal Planet and an ad came on for Nutrisystem and she decided she wanted to be a size 1 because the ad said that everyone wanted to be a size 1. THen she turned to me and said Mommy you should get that food so you can be a size 1 too. I was infuriated. Why do we have to promote such false body images. Why not put a girl in a size 10 or 12 on that ad?
My kids are allowed to watch 7 channels and Disney only in the morning when it's cartoons.
Another one I dont' like is the commercials for eHarmony or whatever they are called. I usually try to distract my kids when I see those. My eldest kept asking why anyone would want to date from an ad.
Now I have let me kids watch all the Budweiser ads. THey are very well done and my kids know that beer is only for Daddy and I think it tastes bad. They have also seen the horses at Busch Gardens and were enthralled with them thinking that maybe these horses were on tv. My daughter, the 11 yo, still wants a Clydesdale. She knows we cant' have a horse but it can be her fantasy.
My 7yo calls the Geico commercials "shows" and says Oh I love this show. He has no idea what Geico is but gets really excited when the Geico show comes on.
My little 7 yo also notices the "new" products in Walmart and always askes for them, like those Macaroni and Cheese chips. I haven't bought them nor will I.
Hope this helps. Good luck with your project.

To me these ad intice the minds of all our children. Even the adults.
I feel we need to explain to our child that these make a person want this or that even if it is wrong.
That these ads are out there for one thing and that is greed and they do not care if it hurt you or not.
Now not all ads are like that.
Just some are.
A parent just need to set down with their child and explain what they seen and ask them if they have any question about it.

Have a Good day Today
Vicki W.

Over the years my daughters (17,14, and 6) have been greatly affected by tv ads, especially at Christmas time, when the stores are really geared up to sell toys. Every thing they saw they automatically wanted.

Sometimes they would receive a gift of one of the toys they had seen advertised and were disappointed. For instance, commercials make it seem that the barbie dolls walk and talk, which obviously to us do not. They often have seen that the ads are deceptive. When we would be shopping, I would point out to them the toys they thought they wanted. I would show them the "flaws" or things that I knew they were unaware of or would not like.

Then they began to notice on their own, as they were older. They would ask me why the ads made things look better than what they were. It became teachable moments about honesty and integrity and about learning to think things through. They began to see how advertisements were designed to manipulate you into buying.

My 6 year old is not there yet, but I am steering her in that direction. I allow her to look at the toy catalogs and circle the things she thinks she would like. When she picks out things that are unsuitable, I explain to her why. (You are too young or too old for that. You would like it for a little while then you would find it boring. ETC.)

by the way, I dread the season when every commercial on tv is a toy ad. It tends to make my children into little beggars. "Can I have that?" is the most asked question from October until the end of December.

My youngest son is a little advertisement sponge. If something catches his eye, even things you wouldn't think about, then he completely memorizes the entire commercial including phone number and contact info. He asks for these things and we always just tell him to wait until they sell it at Wal-Mart. They usually sell things seen on TV at Wal-Mart eventually. By then, he doesn't want it anymore. It was easy when he was younger and would watch PBS without true commercials. My son is now 9-years-old and asks for things for cooking, neat looking bakeware, fishing poles, and things other than just toys. He always has to wait for a holiday for the toys and stuff and is usually into something else by then anyway. We have not regulated his television watching any more because of this but we do talk about the things that he asks for because of commercials. After seeing some of the differences in what things look like on TV and what they actually look like in the stores, he now knows that he can not trust everything he hears on a commercial to be true or that the product necessarily works like it says or even looks exactly the same. We did move up a trip to Orlando, Florida and we stayed at the Nickelodean Hotel because of the commercials. He had every word and phone number memorized. We thought that maybe we should wait another year or so before taking our kids because of their ages. After the youngest started repeating word for word the commercial and talked so much about wanting to go, we went a year earlier than we had planned to. It turned out great and they had a great time. The hotel was wonderful and the kids loved it. Hope all of this rambling has helped.

R. here is how my son at age 5 responded to an ad for an antihistamine. I came home from work(as a pharmacist) complaining of a stuffy head and he said
"Mom you just need to get Claratin Clear".
Direct marketing works.

TV is so so bad for kids, so we really try to limit it, and I've never paid for it, so all we get is what comes through an antenna. In our last location, there was nothing, so my kids literally saw no commercials for 15 months, which was really nice. I remember being a kid and feeling like I just had to have the toys or whatever were advertised on TV.

We took a trip back "home" this last July, a year after moving away, (while we had no tv reception) and apparently my 5 year old son watched some infomercials at Grandma's, because one day out of the blue he started repeating all the wonders of a sleep number bed, and some other products I can't recall. He was repeating the infomercials word for word, and was 100% convinced that we had to have whatever the products were. He will watch anything that comes on the tv, so it's obviously addictive for him, which is all the more reason that we restrict it so much.

By the time he gets home from school (he's now in the first grade) it's about 3:45. He does his homework for an hour or two, plays for an hour or so, eats dinner, gets ready for bed, and goes to bed at 7:30 or 8, and there's no time for tv. We sure don't turn it on in the morning. He discovered Saturday morning cartoons last week though, which is where there are a lot of ads. Since he sees so little TV (mostly what he watches are videos that we already have, and still that's not often), he doesn't get a lot of exposure to ads, which is really nice because he doesn't ask for stuff. We asked him what he wanted for Christmas, and he said he'd have to think about it, probably because he doesn't much know what's out there. I avoid the toy aisles in stores (that is also part of my philosophy - not buying excessive toys; read John Rosemond if you want wisdom on that, as well as TV), so he's not a greedy, demanding, selfish, spoiled brat. Of course he likes to play with any toys he runs across, but he also has the most active imagination I've ever seen, and anything can be a toy. The other night I had a package delivered. He saw the box with styrofoam peanuts and immediately started playing with it. Good luck on your project.

My 5 year old granddaughter notices every commercial that she sees. If it's and ad for a girl's toy, her response is "I want that, I want that", over and over until she gets a response from you. And, it doesn't even matter if it's the type of toy that she would normally play with, or even if it's her age group. If it's an ad for a boy's toy, she says that her friend Tyler NEEDS that. Recently, she told me that I needed to get a purse that she described very well in detail. She told me how much it would hold, what types of things I could put in there, etc. Not long after, I noticed an informercial that was selling that very purse. She had payed such close attention to it, and described it so accurately that I was able to recognize it when I saw it. And she was convinced that both her mother and I needed to buy one of those for ourselves. However, when she goes shopping for a toy, she's very selective. But, with all of the ads on for the holiday season, she will be convinced that Santa will bring her a lot of what she sees on those ads and asks for at that time.

Hi, Ihave a 3 yr old who doesn't pay much attention to ads on TV, but if she spots a baby or a nice jingle she's sure to look up. She may dance to the music or laugh at the babies , but as far as paying attention to the ad itself, she could care less. Now, I'm gonna tell you, my 11 yr old, we have a different story there. She's already maturing physically and she's a little boy crazy. You know how we were at that age. anyhow, I take advantage of every ad I see about teenage sex and pregnancy, drugs & alcohol, and those "talk to your children" ads. A lot of parents have trouble trying to figure out how to bring these conversations up. Well, this is how I bring them up. If she is ever caught watching them we have a brief conversation about it or if I catch one that she doesn't, I get her to pay attention. I know she's young but I feel you can never start to early talking to your children. Unfortunately, she is a follower not a leader, I have to keep that in perspective. I hope I have helped you a little.

I have an 11 year old daughter and 3 year old son. My son just turned 3 last month and ever since the toy commercials have been on over load with Christmas coming up. And now my 3 year old will call my husband a I into the room whenever he's sees a com for something he likes and then comes the "Can I get that" or " I want to get that" He has never been like that before. It must be the combo of being old enough to know the toys and there being so many of them on at this time of year but it is driving me almost crazy hearing those 2 phrases over and over again. But all I have to say is I dont' know or we'll see and he moves on. Of course there is no way he would ever get everything he sees, but I do have some wonderful ideas about what he wants for Christmas and I get to pick and choose from all the one he wants which ones I really want him to have, because there is plenty that he doesn't need , but some of them would be perfect for him. Plus I have a great list to give to his grandparents for ideas for Christmas presents, things I know he wants and that I approve of him getting.
I have a family of tv watchers too. I love being home alone and enjoying the absolute silence that doesn't exist once any one of them get home. My husband is actually the worst of them. My daughter doesn't really pay much attention to commercials. Occasionally something will catch her eye, but she is usually so busy with school and friends and extra activities that she probably watches the least amount of TV. She is more influenced by what her friends and classmates have than what the TV says. My husband does sometimes, new video games or better HD TVs, sometime he likes the music, like the one with the new ACDC song, that one always got his attention because he kept wanting to know what the name of the new song was, most likely though he wouldn't be able to tell you what the comm was for. I just get annoyed with them, spend more money, buy more stuff, ours is better then theirs, I guess that is why I like books better than TV.

My kids are now 13 and 11. From an age where children realize commercials show them something to buy I started teaching my children that marketing people are trying to get them to buy the products and that products often do not work as well as presented in the advertising. Perfect examples were neighbors who purchased a certain toy that was only available from TV/order now. The mom told us that the toy didn't work nearly as well as shown on tv. As for fast food meals with toys, we talked about how the toys really didn't usually "do" anything. We would buy a big meal and split it instead of the toy meal. We call them junk toys in my house.
As they get older it is much harder with peer pressure and the "toys" get much more expensive. I have tried my best to bring my children up with a skeptical eye toward advertising. BTW one of my degrees is in marketing.

When my 3.5 year old son watches TV (Diego is his favorite) and the ads come on; it doesn't matter what the ad is for he wants it. I just say "we'll see" and he forgets about it. Also, I never see him transfer the desire for that product to another situation. For example, if we're in a store--he wants what he sees, but not because of a TV ad; he just wants what he sees.

Now my daughter is 7, and she makes the connections and will get fixed on some product she has seen on an ad and keep asking for it. Very rarely do I ever buy a toy or kid product based on an add.

I have 4 children (10, 5, 4, and 2) and all of them will say
"I want that". That's where I step in and ask them questions (even ask myself before purchasing a toy)

- What would you do with it?
- What does the toy do?
- Why do you want it?
- Will you take care of it? How?
- If you buy this, how much comes with it?
- etc. benefits

If we see it at the store, I let them see it (play with it) to show their level of interest and even test the quality of the toy. I tend to find their interest fades and the next toy is more exciting.

My children like hands on and arts and crafts so I end up giving them things that inhance learning or things they will get the most out of.

I guess my point is, regardless of what's on TV or print, I think parents get more "suckered" into the WOW factor than the children. Parents want to give their children everthing but some are not worth 10 minutes of play time after Christmas.

Example: I bought a $20 drum set for my 3 year old son (loved it) but my 2 year old son destroyed it. They still go around drumming on everything. Will I buy another set... maybe later.
That was worth buying, just bad "terrible two" timing.

My daughter is 3, but at the age of 2 she began to point out Chucky Cheese whenever we passed it and I thought that was wierd that she could recognize the sign and remember it even though we had only been there once, a long time ago. She was always happy to see the place and sometimes asked to go. She didn't do this with anything else. I later found that the reason she did that was because there are lots of comercials for chucky cheese that she see's when she is watching Dora.

Although we don't watch too much TV, I tend to mute it when an ad comes on. My kids, however, go crazy for me to turn up the sound. I think they would rather watch the ad than the show!

I also think they get an exagerated sense of how great the toy is going to be. When they do get an advertised toy, they get a little let down (the kids on the commercial looked SO happy playing with the toy... why aren't they?)

Instead of muting the commercials, I flip to another channel during commercial breaks!

Good luck on the research!

My son used to not watch TV at all. But since his sister was born, he watches a lot more. But, it is not constant all day. He watches for a few minutes, then goes play for a while. Anyway, back to your request. Most of what he watches is commertial free. If by chance he is watching Nick, he might notice something and comment on it. But, he has never commented on wanting it. My son is 3 1/2 years old. Hope this helps.

I have two 14 yr old girls, a 5 yr old girl and a 3 yr old boy. Since it is close to halloween, all the commercials, even on the disney channel, are about halloween. The 2 little ones have come to me often scared when they are watching their favorite program. (for the girl it is Mickey's Clubhouse and the boy Handy Manny) They have talked about a scarey hand, a monster in the closet and all kinds of crazy things. I have resorted to only letting them choose a tape to watch if they want to watch tv till halloween is over. I really dont restrict their tv persay. They do it on their own. They both watch about 1 hr a day. Sometimes not even that. I dont remind them when the shows are on. If they ask I will turn it on. Most of the time my girl is busy cooking in her kitchen and taking care of her babies. My little boy is riding his bike round fixing everything with his pretend tools. One of my 14 yr olds is really into music so she doesnt watch much tv unless it is mtv. The other 14 yr old has a bad addiction to tv. She will watch it till her eyes pop out. It doesnt even matter what is on or if she likes it. It is my husbands daughter from his first marriage and she didnt come to live with us till she was 10. TV has always played a big part in her life. We dont make a big deal out of tv. When responsibilities are pushed aside then tv is restricted. (which happens a lot with her) Anyway I hope this helps.

Hi R.,

Sounds like a cool project! My kids are 10 and 13 and even at their ages, I still have to remind them that all commercials are not fact. They believe everything the commercial says and want to order all of those items they see on TV when they say "not available in stores". Especially the arts and crafts items. I try to explain to them that they make the commercial in order to sell the items, not with the intent of telling the truth, but they still don't get it. They're finally getting a little better because some of their friends have ordered the items seen on TV and they did not work as advertised, but it's still a struggle. I think ads, in general, are aimed at children because they are naive. Kid still believe that grown-ups tell the truth. it's a never-ending battle. Hope this helps some. Good luck with your project. L.

Hi R.,
I have a 5 yo daughter, and we regulate what TV she watches so that she sees the least amount of ads (Disney channel, PBS kids, Noggin); however, some of the programs are supported by McDonald's, Chuck E. Cheese and Danimals yogurt. McDonald's is really the only one that my daughter recognizes; thankfully, she hasn't been too affected by them, as she doesn't often ask for McD's. I think having older siblings probably would make a difference, too, as they would tend to watch different channels, with commercials. I'm pregnant now, and fear that as this little one gets older, he will be exposed to TV ads that will sway him more.

Not sure if that helps you!! Good luck w/your project.

D.

I have a 3YO who likes to watch TV in the morning. When he was born, I was SURE I was not going to let my kid watch TV, at least until he was older. Now I realize that there really are some good educational shows out there, and I have seen him learn so much... a great variety of stuff that I never would've thought to teach him about, and also I see it really help with his language development too. So I have lightened up a lot about TV, and think it's fine in moderation. I have found, however, that even at this young age, he has started to ask for TV more than I think is ok. So we have already had to set rules... he can watch TV when we first get up in the morning (while I have coffee and check email). Then the TV goes off and we really start our morning. If he wants, he is allowed to watch another show while I make dinner. We have Tivo, so I record some of his shows so that we still have "good" shows for him to choose from in the evening while I'm cooking. Usually he only watches PBS or Disney Channel (neither of which has commercials), but recently my husband let him start watching Diego, which comes on a channel with commercials. As soon as I heard a commercial on there, I thought, "Hmmm... I don't think I like this..."
Sure enough, I look over and see his eyes glued to the screen and he says to me, "Momma, can we get that thing?" It's incredible how quickly the effect sinks in, even on one so young!

I don't try to limit my kids time with TV since they naturally gravitate towards the backyard anyhow. they sometimes ask for the things they see, but not too much. what they do get from commercials that drives me crazy are the jingles. they are constantly walking around singing or humming the tunes. when one does it the other naturally picks up and sings along causing it to be stuck in everyones head. they are also definitely asking a lot of questions about the candidates with all the political ads - glad they'll be done soon. occassionally my 4 year old son will tell me that i should have bought something else and will quote the commercial as to why one thing was better than the other. good luck with the project

I am a grandma to 2 girls, 3 and 6. They watch what we allow, children's shows. Of course, the commercials are toys, or going someplace that looks wonderful. When the toys come on, they immediately pay attention and say, I want that! I ignore it like they never said anything, and they go back to the tv show they were watching. The places that look neat, or the movies, will illicit the same responses, "can we go there, can we see that!" I don't think it lasts very long in their minds. Now, a very brutal commercial might, but we don't show that.

My kids are 4 & 2 and we don't have a TV, yet I still see the pernicious effects of advertising in them. We have several DVDs, and they recognize the logos of those characters (mostly Bob the Builder & Thomas the Tank Engine), and every time they see anything associated with them (like the HIT Entertainment Logo, which is the producer of those videos, as well as a lot of other kid videos; or Nick Jr, which does Dora and Little Bear), they holler out what it is. They watch TV at my mom's (she has a DVR and records Dora, Little Bear, Tom & Jerry, etc.), so they don't get just a whole lot of advertising, although T&J does have regular commercials. So far, they haven't seemed to have been affected by it, but a lot of the commercials they've seen are not exactly for their age group. Still, whenever we go to Walmart or see stuff online, my kids know Elmo, Dora & Diego, Thomas (and all the trains), Little Bear, etc., and my older son has started asking for all the stuff that we see when we go to the store.

My sister's kids have the "I wannas" a lot more, but they are also several years older, have outside friends who are also into stuff, and watch **a lot** of TV. When they were my kids' ages, though, they were a lot more susceptible to ads. My sister & her husband also gave in to everything, spent tons of money on Christmas & birthdays, and basically have let their kids believe they can get anything they want. But I know a lot of their desires were also fueled by what they saw on TV.

TV advertisers know what sells. They know how to get your kids to want what they see. I still remember seeing Barbie commercials when I was a kid and wanting that particular Barbie (vacation, Day-to-Night, doctor Barbie, whatever).

I remember seeing something years ago about research done on preschool-age kids, in which they showed them a couple of dozen different logos -- just a single letter out of them, like the "M" from McDonald's, the "W" from Wal-mart, or the "A" from the laundry detergent "All" -- and it was incredible how many ones they knew. They knew some that I didn't know!

I have a 4yr old and a 1 yr old. The younger of course doesn't really pay attention to the tv. The older however is like a sponge of the ads. In the last year he started paying attention to the ads for just about everything, not just the kid geared, and wants it all. When the cartoons are on and the ads are all toys and such, he wants each one he sees- girl, boy, baby- it doesn't matter. He repeats commercials of everything from AirWick to ASPCA to TitleMax. The Airwick inspire him to want to buy it. When the ASPCA commercial is on he says "we have to call and help today, mom". Driving down the road last week he suddenly yelled "TitleMax". We had indeed past one, but he can't read yet. He recognized the logo from the commercial and remembered it and its name. This was my cue that he watches too much tv. We're a family that the tv is just on, even when no one is paying attention to it. I'm trying to break this habit and only have it on when we're actually watching something. He watches videos often, both movies and cartoon episode videos. I encourage this the closer we get to Christmas to avoid the increased number of kid-geared ads.