Case for FTC Regulation of Television Advertising Directed Toward Children Symposium on Commercial Speech 46 Brooklyn Law Review 1979-1980

46 Brook. L. Rev. 513 (1979-1980)
Case for FTC Regulation of Television Advertising Directed Toward Children

handle is hein.journals/brklr46 and id is 527 raw text is: THE CASE FOR FTC REGULATION OF
TELEVISION ADVERTISING DIRECTED TOWARD
CHILDREN
Molly Pauker*
It is beyond dispute that television plays a major role in the
lives of all Americans,1 especially children.2 Because of experien-
tial and developmental differences, adults and children perceive
and respond to television messages in significantly different
ways.3 Advertising practices of manufacturers who market prod-
ucts designed for children's consumption reflect a recognition of
these differences. Television advertising aimed at child consum-
ers has produced extraordinary profits for manufacturers, adver-
tisers and broadcasters.4 The moral, ethical and social costs of
these business practices, however, remain in question.
Children normally are not shown the wide range of products
advertised to adults. They are the primary and virtually only
targets of specially designed advertising campaigns for toys and
highly sugared foods,5 broadcast during hours with heavy con-
* Former Staff Counsel, Action for Children's Television; B.A., Radcliffe College,
1972; J.D., Harvard Law School, 1977.
1 As of September 1978, 98% of American households, 74.5 million homes, had at
least one television set; 48% had more than one set; and 81% of television households
had color sets. A.C. NELSEN Co., NwisEN TELEVISION 3 (1979).
2 Approximately 33.3 million children between the ages of two and eleven live in
households with television sets. Id. at 6.
3 See notes 7-17 and accompanying text infra. See also L RYsm & G. HANsSON,
INFORMATION PROCESSES IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN: THE ABILITY OF CHIUDREN TO ComRE-
HEN TELEVION AND RADIO PROGRAM ES (1970).
4 See notes 8-17 and accompanying text infra.
5 A recent Action for Children's Televison (ACT) sponsored content analysis of Sat-
urday morning and weekday afternoon children's programming schedules in 10 cities
across the country revealed that, in October 1977, advertisements for foods and toys
constituted 777 out of 1,022 commercials monitored. Moreover 11 companies accounted
for 69% of all commercials monitored; 39 companies accounted for the remaining 31%.
F. BARCUs, CommERcuLs CILnDRN's TELEmISON ON WEEKEms & WVEEDAY ApTpOONS
32 (1978).
Cereals, candies and snack foods were the principal food products advertised, and
highly sugared foods accounted for about two-thirds of the edibles advertised. Id. at 54.
For example, while cereal ads accounted for 17.7% of the commercials shown, 85% of
those ads were for highly sugared brands. Id. at 36. During the 40 bours of children's
programming examined in the study, no commercials for fruits or vegetables were broad-

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