Do you remember waking up on a bright Saturday morning, hoping to catch your favorite cartoon, only to see the latest toy advertised with the words “BUY NOW” in big, bold letters? Or maybe you were trying to unwind after a long day, but during every commercial break, you’d hear the same candy ad with a catchy jingle?
Marketing toward children is a big industry for advertisers, especially on TV. More than 20 years ago, the American Psychological Association published an extensive report on the impact and prevalence of marketing toward children. The report found that advertisers spend over $12 billion per year to target the youth market, with children viewing more than
40,000 commercials annually.
According to Market.us, the Global Kids Digital Advertising Market was worth $3.4 billion in 2023 and is expected to skyrocket to $25.9 billion by 2033, growing at a superfast rate of 22.5% each year.
Young audiences are often more susceptible to deception and less discerning of what’s being presented to them. Advertisers seem to take advantage of this vulnerability to promote unhealthy foods, expensive clothes, and disposable toys.
While cable viewership has decreased in the past decade, children’s programming continues to reach thousands. As reported by USTVDB.com, Nickelodeon is the 55th most popular channel on TV, watched by 121,000 people daily as of April 6. Cartoon Network pulls in about 65,000 viewers daily based on the average weekly ratings ending Feb. 2.
The U.S. government tries to regulate what is and isn’t shown to children. There are “Commercial Limits on Children’s Programming.”
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), children’s programming must air at least 156 hours of educational shows each year (including 26 hours every three months), mostly on their main channel. The FCC also says kids’ shows for ages 12 and under can only have a limited amount of ads — 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12 minutes on weekdays — and those ads have to be separated from the actual show with something unrelated in between.
In the past, the federal government vetoed bills and prevented efforts to regulate advertisements geared toward children. President Ronald Reagan was adamant in his disapproval of the Children’s Television Act of 1988 and killed the bill despite its support from Congress.
As stated in his 1988 Presidential Memorandum to the White House, Reagan claimed, “This type of government regulation may well undermine its stated purpose by discouraging commercial networks from financing quality children’s programming. The bill simply cannot be reconciled with the freedom of expression secured by our Constitution.” Though there are some government reforms now, Reagan’s deregulation opened the door for companies to advertise almost anything they wanted to children. These products include snacks with high sugar contents and other unhealthy foods.
From an experiment published by the National Library of Medicine, out of 564 food advertisements, “246 (44%) promoted food from the fats and sweets group, such as candy, soft drinks, chips, cakes, cookies, and pastries. Fast-food restaurant advertising was also prevalent, comprising 11% of total food advertisements.”
Processed cereals have also dominated the market, with Cheerios spending almost $100 million on digital, print, and national TV advertising. Many advertisements use catchy jingles or simple slogans to plant themselves inside a child’s brain.
Zyon Johnson, a high school sophomore, said the Fruity Pebbles commercials left a lasting impression: “From my childhood the Fruity Pebbles ‘Yabba Dabba Doo’ commercial was the most memorable. The elements of the advertisement that stuck out to me were definitely the music and upbeat feeling the commercial brought.”
Chelyn Park, a junior, said the toy commercial that most impacted her childhood was “Anything Disney. I loved the vibrant colors and effects; they really created a sense of excitement. They used well-known Disney characters, which made the product really appealing for me because I wanted to be like them.”
“A Study on the Effects of Ads on the Mental Health of Children,” published in 2024 in the Journal of Advanced Research in Quality Control &
Management, found that the more ads kids see — on TV, online, or in apps — the more likely they are to feel stressed, anxious, and bad about themselves. The study found that these ads often use fun characters and catchy music to sell toys and snacks, but also push unrealistic looks and the idea that buying stuff equals happiness, which they assert can negatively impact kids’ self-esteem and mental health.
According to Statistica, the U.S. dominates the global toy industry, generating nearly $40 billion in sales in 2023 — far surpassing countries like China, Japan, and Germany. Three of the top five global toy companies (JAKKS Pacific, Hasbro, and Mattel) are based in the U.S., contributing to an annual economic impact of over $100 billion. Toy advertisements often work on a “sold separately” model that subsequently drags children into the consumerist mindset.
When Park was a young child, her family bought many princess-themed toys. “I was particularly interested in those princess dresses, shoes, and wands,” she said.
Ten years ago, the Disney Princess franchise was “a $5.5 billion enterprise,” according to Bloomberg. The Hollywood Reporter claims sources say that “Star Wars merch generated a billion for the company” in 2023. But products aren’t the only things being sold.
Around this past presidential election, VOX Investigates Intern Mikayla Johnson, 17, was babysitting two twin boys and noticed something unsettling. “They were watching YouTube Kids. In between them watching ‘Bluey,’ there were these political ads. I was so confused … it was pro-Trump ads that they were watching.”
