Erin Hickey

When I was a young girl my family used to call me, “the commercial kid.” I knew every commercial by heart, all of the copy and every song. I would watch the television programs, but I had a special affinity for the advertisements that separated each segment. I remember waiting for the commercial to begin and then mouthing, sometimes aloud, the verbiage, sometimes mimicking the actors as well. Even now, I remember commercials that were played regularly in the 1980s.

Children have very short-term memory and a short attention span. My almost four-year-old son cannot watch a 30-minute Dora the Explorer episode the whole way through without coming out of the bedroom multiple times with other interests in mind. I then have to remind him that he was watching television so he either needs to finish watching the program or turn off the TV.

Commercials, then, are an excellent way to capture a child’s attention, and marketers know that. Sit a child in front of a TV, turn on a program, and study their reaction and interest level. While the program is playing, they often break their attention and get distracted and disinterested. As soon as the commercials begin, they are entranced and seem to remain that way throughout the commercial break. This is because when one short, colorful, exciting commercial abruptly ends, it explodes right into another. It can be quite comical.

Many children’s shows on television are educational, so I often ask my son what he has learned from one after he is through watching it. Just like the answer a parent commonly gets when asking what their child has learned in school today, he replies, “nothing.” Although, hours or even days after he has seen a commercial for a particular product he finds appealing, he has no trouble describing the toy to me in detail so that he can request that I purchase it for him; all this from my commercial kid.

I suppose what I’m trying to suggest is that marketers have a certain amount of responsibility when creating television advertising content that they intend to air. They must be cognizant of the fact that, whether they will be airing such content on the Disney channel or HBO, children will be watching. Their little minds are impressionable and every parent knows they have selective memory. In some ways, we never change as we become adults. The same things that attracted us to commercials as a kid attract us to them today: the quick movements, the loud noises, the colors, and the artistic cinematography. I suppose we’re all commercial kids.

How do you feel about your kids watching commercials?

Photograph Credit:
Sabrina Segal