By: Mars Marte
Advertisements (Ads) are everywhere, fueled by marketing ploys determined to sell a product and a promise. Commercials and other promotions sell the consumer an idealized image that can be achieved if they purchase the item, resulting in waves of spending tied to trends and aesthetics. This mindset of consumption influences the coming generation, shaping their moldable minds from their childhood and into customers.
Mass consumerism refers to the widespread consumption of goods and services by a large number of individuals, increased by advertising, Fiveable explains. This ideology has seeped into ones day to day, making it nearly impossible to exist without being sold a commodity. In a time where everyone is considered a potential customer, the market grows, determined to reach all corners of a community.
With corporations growing insatiably, the most susceptible groups find themselves as the primary focus of these unsatisfied businesses. In the passing decades, children and adolescents have been the target of countless brands that seek to utilize the naivety found in this demographic for corporate profit.
The concern of commercials aimed at children predates the television and internet boom, with the first pleas coming from the British Parliament in 1874 when officials passed legislation “intended to protect children from the efforts of merchants to induce them to buy products and assume debt,” researchers at the American Psychological Association note.
These earlier warnings proved to be remarkably accurate, as advertisements frequently send children running to their parents asking for the very products they just watched on screen. While a common experience for children is to witness an exciting toy and then seek it, this concept shifts as toys dwindle out of the spotlight.
The death of Teen Vogue loudly announced what has been known under the surface: children’s media was collapsing. As traditional outlets for youth programming declined, young audiences migrated online, where the line between entertainment and advertising has become increasingly blurred.
A recent study conducted by Common Sense Media revealed that 58% of four-year-olds in the United States own a device.
The majority of young minds are given access to screens that entertain around the clock. With constant access to digital spaces, young audiences are exposed to an unprecedented volume of advertisements and sponsored content, carefully crafted to capture their attention long before they are capable of recognizing the persuasive intent behind them.
Unlike the commercials of previous generations, modern advertising rarely announces itself as an advertisement. Instead, it blends seamlessly into the content children consume online. Social media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram have created a new form of marketing in which influencers promote products while presenting them as part of their everyday lives.
A skincare routine by the family YouTube channel Garza Crew features their young daughter completing a full face of Drunk Elephant products while she praises said items. To young viewers, these promotions often appear authentic rather than commercial. Children scrolling through their phones are no longer simply watching advertisements between programs; they are consuming entertainment that is built around selling products.
In a piece written by Ariana Yaptangco for Glamour Magazine, she highlights a discussion between her and Glamour’s executive editor, Natasha Pearlman.
During her recount of the talk, Pearlman highlights how her daughter has recently discovered the makeup world, and while initially a harmless fascination, it quickly spiraled into her nine-year-old’s concern over what products she had.
This shift Pearlman describes in her daughter is occurring on a larger scale. In recent years, children as young as eight or nine have appeared online showing off expensive skincare products and elaborate beauty routines. Brands like Drunk Elephant, originally marketed toward adults, have become status symbols among preteens eager to imitate the influencers they watch online.
When a child cannot yet spell every word in a sentence, but can scroll endlessly through TikTok, the line between childhood and consumerism begins to blur. Children are not simply purchasing products; they are learning to construct their identities around them. Social media marketing rarely sells a single item in isolation.
Instead, it promotes an entire lifestyle complete with routines, aesthetics, and status symbols. For impressionable audiences still learning how to understand themselves and the world around them, these curated lifestyles can become models of who they believe they should be.
The result is a generation of young users who measure themselves against carefully edited versions of reality while corporations quietly benefit from their participation in the trend cycle.
Advertising will likely always be a part of modern life. In a consumer-driven and capitalistic society, companies will continue to search for new ways to reach potential buyers.
However, childhood should not be treated as simply another marketplace waiting to be tapped. When the entertainment children consume is carefully engineered to shape their desires, preferences, and identities before they are old enough to understand the intent behind it, the consequences extend far beyond a simple purchase.
Protecting young audiences will require stronger transparency in advertising, greater digital literacy, and a willingness to listen to the perspectives of the children growing up inside this environment.
If corporations are willing to treat children as consumers, society must be equally willing to treat them as voices worth hearing.