IELTS Task 2 sample essay: Advertising Aimed at Children

Advertisements aimed at children are now everywhere, from television channels to video-sharing apps. I agree that advertising directed at young children should be banned, although for older children education is a more realistic answer than prohibition.

The main argument for a ban is that young children cannot recognise persuasion. A seven-year-old watching a cartoon character praise a sugary cereal does not understand that the scene was designed to make them want something. Adults can judge an advert's claims; young children mostly cannot, which makes marketing aimed at them fundamentally unequal. The pressure then passes to parents, who face repeated requests for toys and snacks that the children only want because they were targeted.

The products most heavily advertised to children are also often the least healthy. Fast food, sweets and fizzy drinks dominate children's advertising, and their marketing contributes to poor diets at an age when eating habits are formed. Restrictions on such advertising during children's programmes already exist in some countries, which shows that a ban is practical rather than idealistic.

Teenagers are a different case. They spend much of their time online, where advertising is mixed with entertainment and often hard to spot, so a ban would be almost impossible to enforce. For this age group, schools could teach media literacy, showing students how sponsored content works and how to question it.

In conclusion, advertising aimed at young children exploits an audience that cannot defend itself and should be banned. For older children, however, the better long-term protection is the ability to recognise and resist persuasion themselves.