Advertising and Decision-making - A Newsletter for Parents of Third Grade Children

Have you ever

• purchased a dress hoping you would look like the model in the magazine ad
• selected a meal because the picture on the menu looked good
• looked at a new car after watching commercials on TV
• rushed out to buy new shampoo because the newspaper ad says it will make you look years younger

If so, you, like the rest of the world are reacting to advertisements. In today's competitive business atmosphere advertising is a multi-million dollar industry.

Advertising Drives Decisions

As a parent teaching your child money management skills, it's important you recognize the influence advertising has on a person's purchasing decisions.

Children in the third grade are already beginning to be aware of the power of "stuff." They want what their friends have or what advertisements tell them they should have.

Because third grade students are most likely to be exposed to advertising through TV, you need to be tuned in to what they're seeing.

Ads during children's programming primarily focus on toys and snack foods. The ads shown at other times hype everything from shampoo to cars.

While your child may recognize the purpose of an ad is to get you to buy the product, he or she may not understand how the ads appeal to a person's emotions.

Talk to your child about ads using some of these emotional appeals:

• to be one of the crowd
• to be attractive to other people
• to be happy
• to be successful
• to be safe and secure
• to be healthy
• to be liked by other people

Deciding What to Buy

Advertisements will always be a part of the shopping world. But, children can learn to use ads in making shopping decisions rather than be swayed by them. Fill out this chart with your child, using a product seen on TV. Help the child do some comparison shopping of similar products to make the best decision. You may want to try this chart with a snack food.

Prepared by Donna K. Donald, family life field specialist, and Vicki W. Sickels, former family support program associate, and edited by Laura Sternweis, communication specialist, Iowa State University Extension

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Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Stanley R. Johnson, director, Cooperative Extension Service, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.

This newsletter is published for families with first grade children by Iowa State University Extension. For more information about parenting education, contact your local county extension office or access the Iowa State University Extension to Families website, www.extension.iastate.edu/families.