The Ethicality of Advertising Children's Products and Stimulating Parental Consumption

U radu se analizira problematika etičnosti stvaranja potrošačkog društva i njegovog utjecaja na djecu i njihove obitelji, s posebnim naglaskom na oglašavanje proizvoda namijenjenih djeci. Polazišna ideja rada jest ideja da su marketinški napori proizvođača i oglašivača proizvoda namijenjenih djeci često protivni vrijednostima koje roditelji nastoje usaditi svojoj djeci. Istovremeno, naglasak na važnost posjedovanja materijalnih stvari odvraća pozornost od onih načina provođenja vremena koji mogu imati povoljnije ishode za djetetovo fizičko i mentalno zdravlje i razvoj. Autoričin prilog leži u empirijskoj potrazi za odgovorima na istraživačka pitanja vole li djeca komercijalni program te pamte li komunikacijske poruke oglašivača, jesu li roditelji upoznati s pojmovima potrošačkog društva i konzumerizma te mogućim negativnim posljedicama istih te razgovaraju li s djecom o komercijalnom okruženju koje ih okružuje. Osvješćivanjem problematike kod roditelja i djece, edukacijom, stalnom i otvorenom komunikacijom te razvojem općeg kritičkog pristupa medijima i medijski posredovanoj popularnoj kulturi, potrebno je djeci omogućiti razumijevanje komercijalnih motiva potrošačkog društva, te ih tako posredno zaštititi od manipulacije oglašivačke industrije.The thesis studies the ethicality of creating consumer society and its influence over children and their families, with a special emphasis on advertising children's products. The main idea behind the thesis is the impression that the marketing efforts of producers and advertisers of children's products are often set against values that parents are trying to build into their children. At the same time, the accent on the importance of owning material things leads away from those ways of spending the time that may have a more positive outcome on children's physical and mental health and development. Author's contribution lies in the empirical search of the answers to research questions asking do children enjoy the commercial program and do they remember the advertiser's communication messages, are the parents acquainted with terms such as consumer society and consumerism along with possible negative consequences, and do they discuss the commercial environment that surrounds them. By highlighting this topic among parents and children, through education, frequent and open communication and nurturing a critical standpoint toward media and the popular culture represented through this media, it is essential to explain commercial motives that stand behind the consumer society to children, and by doing so, to mediately protect them from the advertising industry's manipulation