Television advertising has been a very important source of attention from every type of audience, but especially the younger ones. Televised advertisement for young children, when analyzed at first glance, may seem harmless. But, with a more critical eye, it is possible to see the damages that it may cause to children's psychological state. Audiences from two to five years old are too young to understand many concepts that tend to shield adults from advertising. Furthermore, children are not as able to control their emotions as an adult, so they might get attached to the products they see on screen. Therefore, I believe that television advertising for young children should not be allowed.

Firstly, young kids usually do not understand concepts like marketing, capitalism, corporations, or even money. They do not understand that there is a huge group of people behind the ad that show a kid playing with a toy. And these people understand the lack of understanding of kids, and will use everything in their knowledge to be as appealing as possible. I remember when I was a kid and used to watch those advertisements. When I saw a girl smiling with a friend playing with the latest Barbie, I begged it for my mom. But I did not know that my response was the expected result for the calculated approaches the company took with the ad. I could barely count to 100 at the time, so I obviously could not understand that my vulnerability was being taken advantage of. When you are an adult, your mentality changes. We understand that the company targeting an ad at us has a marketing department, who wants to sell the product no matter the cost. That tends to shield us more from the appeal of ads. Children, on the other hand, still do not have this mentality and can be exploited.

Secondly, there is a risk of kids developing a fear of missing out. Poorer kids will probably not have the same access to toys as wealthier kids. No matter how much they beg, their parents sometimes simply cannot afford it. So, when they go to school and see other children with the toy they saw on TV that they cannot have, they might get sad. I know that because I wanted a Game of Life more than anything when I was younger. My parents could not get me one, and I could only play when a friend of mine had it. Although I was happy for being able to play, I knew that it would be limited, and that made me sad. I could not control my emotions and just enjoy the playing time because I knew it would end quickly. Essentially, I only desired the game because of how much I saw it as an advertisement on television. If the advertisement was not allowed to that audience, I would not have had that experience.

In conclusion, children have much to lose with television advertisements. From the exploit of their naïvety to the bad experiences it may cause because of socio-economical differences, having targeted ads in such mainstream media will not do any good for this audience. Therefore, I thoroughly believe that television advertisements should not be allowed to younger audiences.