The Effects of Advertising

Mrs. Sheldon’s 7th grade students are learning how messages in the advertising they see every day can affect their lives. After watching the movie, The Myth of Choice: How Junk-Food Marketers Target Our Kids, they discussed the negative effects advertising has on young people. These effects include obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol caused by advertising of junk food, the desire for unnecessary material things such as clothing and technology, and the toll advertising can have on us mentally through peer pressure and social norms. They are also learning that messaging on social media exposes them to concepts that may be inappropriate for young audiences and that children under the age of eight cannot determine fact from fiction, which leads them to believe that all they see on TV is true. It has been a valuable, eye-opening lesson!