Posted: January 31st, 2025

Children and young people in advertising

Children and young people in advertising
In 2006, awareness of the portrayal of children and young people in advertising was raised by the
publication of The Australia Institute’s report, Corporate Paedophilia
. This raised the profile of the
sexualisation of children in the world of marketing and advertising and discussed its potential harm
to children. Additional research
2
confirms advertising is having an adverse effect upon the health of
children: an Australian study found that, by age seven, 7 % of girls want to be slimmer!
The Commission is concerned with several issues affecting and involving children and young people in
marketing and advertising:
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marketing targeted at children and young people
the sexualisation of children in advertising
the promotion of unhealthy body images in advertising
gender stereotyping
the promotion of consumerism targeting children, and
the privacy of children and young people where direct marketing is concerned.
This fact sheet aims to provide some background to these issues and a list of helpful tips for parents to
help make some real changes.
Marketing targeted at children and young people
It is widely known that children are a lucrative market. Social research company Australia Scan says
the ‘tween’ market (which covers seven to 13 year-olds) is worth more than $10 billion in Australia.
Anywhere between $250 million and $1 billion of this is spent on clothing (La Nauze and Rush 2006a).
Television is predominantly used by advertisers to market to children (although this may change due to
the increasing popularity of the internet) and it is estimated the average child sees more than 40,000
television ads a year. Advertisers spend more than $12 billion per year targeting the youth market
because of its strong contribution to the consumer economy. According to one estimate in the United
States, children aged 14 and under make $24 billion in direct purchases and influence $190 billion in
family purchases
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In December 2004 The Australia Institute commissioned a survey (La Nauze and Rush 2006b) of over
600 Australians that included a question about advertising to children; 86% of respondents agreed
there should be more limits on advertising to children. A telephone survey of a representative sample
of 501 Australian parents conducted for the Australian Childhood Foundation in 2005 found that 90%
believe that children are targeted too much by companies trying to market their products to them

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