Hard hitting adverts on kids tv channels

emo72

my 7 yo daughter has been getting distressed by the " a child dies every 3 seconds" adverts. i noticed her wincing and turning away from the tv when it was on. she would never had mentioned it only i saw her reaction.

listening to tubridy on the radio last week i heard about a 5yo kid who thought he was going blind because he had a pain in his eyes. he was reluctant to tell his parents cos he was petrified of going to the doctor in case they took out his eyes!

now, this is totally wrong. my feelings is that my daughter is still innocent and doesnt need this crap so early in her life. this is daytime childrens tv we're talking about. totally wrong and inappropiate. i fecking hate those charities for targetting my kid. and will not support them ever.

i will choose when my kids have to deal with this, and i am certainly not the sheltering type of parent. but showing these adds to basically toddlers and up is fecked up.

bit of a rant, i know, anyone else feel the same?

CrazyRabbit

Well I don't agree with letting kids view any adverts. They are far too impressionable.

But yes, such ads are certainly not suitable for a younger audience.

cbyrd

I totally agree.. i can't even watch them myself.. just on the subject of how impressionable they are .. i was in the supermarket last week and my 8yo starts singing, trust pink forget stains.. i did a double take and said what??? whe pointed at a vanish display on special offer..WTF why can't she memorise her spellings so well :eek:

smelltheglove

What times and stations? I am not the sheltering kind either but I noticed once on one of the kids stations that there was an advert for insurance, of all things on a child dedicated station, that was very suggestive. I rewound and watched a couple of times to make sure I wasnt going mad, the ad involved a guy dressed in a bunny suit and a teenager cosying up to him in the bedroom and the dad walks in and the guy ran away.

Anyway I fired away and email to the station, including the time the advert was shown at and which ad it was and my issues with it, I received a mail back within 24 hours with apologies that the ad must have mistakingly made it through their screening process and had been removed from their broadcasts and a free t-shirt was sent out to my little girl also.

cbyrd

Mostly the 600 channels on sky.. insurance ads and so on during Icarly and spongebob.. usually 4.30 -6pm... then the telly's mine :pac: I think most of the ads in general are inappropriate.. but i have learned to say no no no when asked for things that have been advertised.. except vanish...its a must in my house

emo72

smelltheglove wrote: »

What times and stations?.

early in the daytime. these adds are quite harrowing. and like the previous poster said on channels like boomerang, nickelodeon, popgirl.

shocking stuff about kids being abused. and kids starving to death.

i dont know how this was missed. i expected to come in to this forum and find some threads about it.

smelltheglove

emo72 wrote: »

early in the daytime. these adds are quite harrowing. and like the previous poster said on channels like boomerang, nickelodeon, popgirl.

shocking stuff about kids being abused. and kids starving to death.

i dont know how this was missed. i expected to come in to this forum and find some threads about it.

I could only advise to contact the stations about the ads you have issues with. If you have no joy contact the broadcasting crowd and make a complaint.

Haha love the vanish ad, everytime in the supermarket my little one says mammy get this its on the telly and they say its the best one lol. I have told the kids not to believe everything they see on tv.

smokingman

No ads on babytv channel 623

iguana

emo72 wrote: »

my 7 yo daughter has been getting distressed by the " a child dies every 3 seconds" adverts. i noticed her wincing and turning away from the tv when it was on. she would never had mentioned it only i saw her reaction.

Then maybe you should talk to her about what's in the ad, see how she feels and help her do something positive about the situation that's upsetting her. Just like little Charlie Simpson's parents did last year. When he was upset by scenes of people dying in Haiti his parents decided not to shelter him but instead respected him enough to talk to him about it and helped him set up a Just Giving page where he raised over €250k. I bet that kid feels fantastic about what he's achieved. Way better than he would if his parents had pretended the world was better than it is.

The fact is the world is horribly inequitable and there is no point in pretending it isn't to our children. I can't believe that in the face of the fact that a child dies every 3 seconds due to inequity, you are upset that your kid is upset by the knowledge rather than the knowledge itself. A child dies every three seconds, just think about that.

cbyrd

iguana wrote: »

Then maybe you should talk to her about what's in the ad, see how she feels and help her do something positive about the situation that's upsetting her. Just like little Charlie Simpson's parents did last year. When he was upset by scenes of people dying in Haiti his parents decided not to shelter him but instead respected him enough to talk to him about it and helped him set up a Just Giving page where he raised over €250k. I bet that kid feels fantastic about what he's achieved. Way better than he would if his parents had pretended the world was better than it is.

The fact is the world is horribly inequitable and there is no point in pretending it isn't to our children. I can't believe that in the face of the fact that a child dies every 3 seconds due to inequity, you are upset that your kid is upset by the knowledge rather than the knowledge itself. A child dies every three seconds, just think about that.

Sure if a child is emotionally ready for that kind of chat.. i know that at 8 years of age i was out playing with my friends and had no worries ... i think that children should be allowed be worry free for as long as possible...

We recently had a bereavement in our family what's to stop her getting more upset at the thought that well if a kid can die so can my mammy.. it's the whole insecurity that these ads create in some kids..
And i don't know any kids that have any credit cards to pay money every month either.. They are just not suitable for the program time they're on, just as the fast food ads and other food ads were deemed inappropriate i think these are too..
who are the insurance ads aimed at ??

emo72

iguana wrote: »

Then maybe you should talk to her about what's in the ad, see how she feels and help her do something positive about the situation that's upsetting her. Just like little Charlie Simpson's parents did last year. When he was upset by scenes of people dying in Haiti his parents decided not to shelter him but instead respected him enough to talk to him about it and helped him set up a Just Giving page where he raised over €250k. I bet that kid feels fantastic about what he's achieved. Way better than he would if his parents had pretended the world was better than it is.

The fact is the world is horribly inequitable and there is no point in pretending it isn't to our children. I can't believe that in the face of the fact that a child dies every 3 seconds due to inequity, you are upset that your kid is upset by the knowledge rather than the knowledge itself. A child dies every three seconds, just think about that.

i will when shes ready. shes entitled to her innocence and childhood.

kids grow up way too fast nowadays. shes not ready yet.

strewthelvis

Those stupid ads should be banned altogether, its false advertising, your €5 or whatever is not going to reach that child, its not going to make a "huge" difference, its not going to help them see. How long have these "charaties" been asking for money and still the problems are exactly the same its just the amount of the donation that they require thats rising

Squiggler

strewthelvis wrote: »

Those stupid ads should be banned altogether, its false advertising, your €5 or whatever is not going to reach that child, its not going to make a "huge" difference, its not going to help them see. How long have these "charaties" been asking for money and still the problems are exactly the same its just the amount of the donation that they require thats rising

That's a bit harsh. A very small amount of money can make a very great difference in the lives of those in less well off countries.

Many of the ads state either that 'child x has been helped' or that donations could help 'a child like x'.

However, I do think that these adverts should have to clearly state how much of any given donation will be used for administrative costs and I don't think that they should be shown during children's programming. I resent emotional blackmail and don't think young people should be subjected to it.

I previously worked for a charity with a child sponsorship scheme and we did some research into other charities and what they did with the sponsorship money.

We ensured that 100% of the monthly sponsorship was spent on the sponsored child and his/her family, the majority of it was given to them to pay for food/clothes etc and the remainder was used for medical, dental and educational expenses for the specific child. This meant that each child was sponsored by only one sponsor and that sponsor made a huge impact on the quality of life of the child and its family. We had to rely on donations made expressly for general expenses to pay our admin costs.

In our research we only found one other charity where the "sponsored child" was supported by only one sponsor.

Some charities give a very small proportion (one gave less than 5%) of the "sponsorship" to the child, or to provision of care to the child, with the majority of it being eaten up by marketing and other administration charges. This often means that it takes 20+ sponsors to support or assist one child.

egan2020

I have an eight year old daughter and she's been watching these ads on kids channels on tv for some time now. I believe the first one she saw was the "a child dies every three seconds" or perhaps it was the first one that had an effect on her. She was a bit shocked and spoke to me about the ad and I told her that that was how it was in some parts of the world and to lesser extent here in Ireland. She said it wasn't fair and and went on to say that we had loads of food and she had some clothes and toys that she could give to them. Since then, about once or twice a year, she gathers small toys, books and clothes that she doesn't need anymore and we donate them to a local charity shop. She always puts her loose change in the charity boxes in the local shop. Her school take part in the "shoebox" campaign at Christmas.

Just my opinion but I don't see any harm in children being made aware that these types of problems exist. I don't see how it affects their innocence. My eight year old still plays outside most of the day with her friends and has not been adversely affected by her knowledge about the existence of severe poverty etc.

emo72

dont have a problem with the adds. i have a problem with them being put on kids tv.

why? kids dont have money. who is the target audience? or is the tactic to distress kids and get them to apply pressure on parents?

thats lousy if thats the idea. when i let her watch tv its for entertainment and enjoyment, not the cruel realities of life.

smelltheglove

I have to say I like the child sponsorship ones, I gave monthly to Plan for a long time, we received pictures of the child and letters. Our little one from age 5 had a picture of him in her room as she was so proud we were able to help him. I do believe kids to need to know about the real world but if people have an issue with it being on kids tv I also believe they should contact the stations and make their points clear.

emo72

smelltheglove wrote: »

. I do believe kids to need to know about the real world but if people have an issue with it being on kids tv I also believe they should contact the stations and make their points clear.

yea, fair point. i have been working all week since i made my original post, but i am off tomorrow and will spend some time watching tv with her, and hopefully find the offenders:).

its a given that every kid reacts differently, some better than others. but i am not doing this for my own kids only. im sure there are parents that dont watch the tv with their kids, cos we're busy being parents! and you allow them some time on kids tv channels to be entertained, the last thing i thought was that they would be showing hard hitting adds to young kids. just seems so wrong to me. i appreciate the feedback from all concerned.

Nevyn

I know the channels mentioned, we've had issues but it was with the ones about pets in distress which cuased tears and I had questions asked about me about how much debt I was in and did I need a loan. A couple of chats and it was sorted out.

Shellygoose

I was in the kitchen making dinner one evening when my daughter left a roar out of her telling me to get into the sitting room now......i ran in thinking something was wrong. she had paused an ad about the threat to Polar Bears and was actually demanding that i send them money!

Dont know which is worse....these types of ads or the constant ads for toys that they "HAVE TO HAVE......PPPLLLLEEEEAAAAAssssssseeeee!"

I don't mind these ads in general, so long as their not graphic. Some of the ones about global catastrophes/deaths on the road are just too gruesome. I don't even like to see them, and I've a pretty strong stomach. Can only imagine how a kid would react. I'd prefare if those ones weren't shown at all but they should at least be put on a late timeslot and banned from kid's channels.
Generally informative ones are fine. Kids need to know what's going on in the world, after all. If they come to you asking for X, Y or Z simply say no. If they ask for reasons give them.

Kimono-Girl

my daughter was watching humph on nick jr 2, and we watched an ad for a dating website (with a cartoon girl in an obscenely short skirt jumping so the skirt goes up)

im sorry dating people you've wasted your money for at least two reasons...


1. my daughter is 1 and a half, she will not be joining your website anytime soon....or dating for that matter,

2 PARENTS are watching, yes there are single parents but surely not enough to warrent advertising a dating site between their childrens tv programmes, nevermind the fact most single parents are probably working and its the child minder watching, who i would be sure is not thinking about sex right now that she's surrounded by a bunch of screaming babies!

/rant

it is a bit pointless having ads like the above on a childrens tv channel isn't it? or am i just over-ranting?

lynski

Kimono-Girl wrote: »

my daughter was watching humph on nick jr 2, and we watched an ad for a dating website (with a cartoon girl in an obscenely short skirt jumping so the skirt goes up)

im sorry dating people you've wasted your money for at least two reasons...


1. my daughter is 1 and a half, she will not be joining your website anytime soon....or dating for that matter,

2 PARENTS are watching, yes there are single parents but surely not enough to warrent advertising a dating site between their childrens tv programmes, nevermind the fact most single parents are probably working and its the child minder watching, who i would be sure is not thinking about sex right now that she's surrounded by a bunch of screaming babies!

/rant


it is a bit pointless having ads like the above on a childrens tv channel isn't it? or am i just over-ranting?

OMG I am literally gobsmacked. I would be completely disgusted if I saw that on a childrens tv channel!. It is so inappropriate. We only have terrestrial channles here (rte,tv3,tg4) and I turn it off when the ads start as my 4yr old takes it all in. Any advertising with children's programmes should not be allowed, but ads clearly aimed at 'adult' audience are totally inappropriate. wow so glad we do not have cable.
The odd time the tv gets left on and they have seen some ads I am not happy about. We were talking about our new baby arriving today and he said that the baby will not be hungry after it is born and i said oh he will he will be starving, his response was no mom starving is very serious and babies die if they are starving. obviously saw something, so I had to explain starving was serious and of course I meant he would be very hungry.

efb

CBBC and Cbeebeeies ftw

Kimono-Girl

efb wrote: »

CBBC and Cbeebeeies ftw

yeah usually we have playhouse disney on for mickey mouse..etc no ads heaven!


but she likes Thomas the tank engine and humf on nick jr/nick jr 2 and tbh they seem to be the worst culprits as far as i can see for inappropriate advertising....

LashingLady

Most of the kids channels seem to have 5-8 minutes of ads just before the hour and the half hour. That's except for Playhouse and the Babytv channel. I turn back to Playhouse when they come on. We have Sky+ and our planner is full of kids' shows. My little fella wouldn't sit through ads anyway, he won't even sit through the Hot Dog or "We Did it" dance - as soon as these come on he says - "Again!!" - so not much scope for ads!

What gets my goat is that there's some really nice material on Youtube for kids - alphabet and counting songs - and an ad will flash across the screen for "Single Dublin Guys" wtf???

Deliverance

Far more effective ad: An example of how the ads should be done in a far more effective way over scare tactics based on horror movie effects that leave people quivering in fear of everyday life:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM

BostonB

Hard to avoid the ads tbh. One way around is it do buy the DVD of their favorite show, (Lots of cheap DVD's for 3~5 euro's now) or tape it and and remove the ads. (We've an analog HD recorder). But its impossibe to screen all the ads.

beans

I know at least one couple who got rid of their cable in favour of dvds once junior got past 1. No ads, no problem.

I know kids tv shouldn't be targeted by certain campaigns, but the parents turn the tap on in the first place, letting the toy makers target your kids is hardly any better, right?

My solution would be not to consume television in the home at all. It's becoming less relevant with modern communications, anyway.

Does anyone not keep a tv to protect their children?

BostonB

I know a few people who do not recieve a TV signal. They use a monitor connected to a computer, or DVD etc. Thats more because they are not interested in paying for it, and or don't like the content. I only know one who deliberately doesn't let their kids watch any TV at all.

beans

A friend who had no telly in the family home 'made up for lost time' when she moved out, and became a bit of a hermit to Buffy etc... so I guess there's a balance to be struck!