Advertisements play a major role in influencing the buying decisions of customers.

Advertisements play a major role in influencing the buying decisions of customers. Over the years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of ads targeting children due to the fact, advertisers are aware that kids are the centre of nuclear families. Most of these ads are aired in the evenings when children are back from school and sitting in front of the television. A number of people opine that commercials targeting young kids should be banned. I agree with this view to a great extent because, in my opinion, excessively promotional ads have a devastating effect on children. First of all, children are easily manipulated by the adverts which take them to the virtual world and coax them to acquire products that are not always worth their money. For instance, toys of the Star Wars series are immensely popular among teenagers and sales of these toys are extremely high in the market. Secondly, the advertisements are delivered in such a way that children initiate pestering their parents to buy those products. Some fast food chains employ this strategy. Their ads attract more and more teenagers to eat fast food which is not beneficial for health due to the fact it contains high levels of fats and cholesterol which cause obesity and diabetes in children. Another reason to restrict ads is that they may even put the lives of children at danger. Children frequently imitate the hazardous stunts performed by celebrities in commercials and frequently lose their lives or cause themselves serious injuries in light of the fact that they are not aware of the consequences. To summarize, most ads targeting children are overly promotional and have an adverse impact on children. Hence, the public authority requires ensuring that they are not aired during prime time. However, ads promoting beneficial habits and social commitment require to be shown in the evenings when most children are in front of the television.