NEED ANSWER NOW Summarize the author’s argument in Marketing to Kids. Use at least two references to the text to support your response.

We often assume that children can sse through the absurd tactics of advertising as clearly as adults do, but rt simply isn't so. Research has shown young children actually do not recegnize that advertisements are trying to .11 them something. Kids under Me age of four are not able to distinguish between a television show a. a commercial, a. while kids between four a. eight may see Me difference, they., don't realize commercials are paid Mr by cempanies cenvince Mem to buy a product. Even so, advertising has a profound effect. 'Young children like my broMer may not understand the cencept of cemmercals but they are able to identify bra. logos a. show a preMrence for Mmilar labels. Of course, children aren't the ones with the pocketbooks, but they are certainly persistent in begging Mr produ.. Exhausted pare. (and doting older sisters) eve. ally Just give in. Moreover, these preMrences, for good or ill, follow the children throughout their lives. In other words, kids are sitting ducks for advertissrs, a. sadly, all that aggressive marketing s actually doing them harm. The detrimenM1 effe. of advertising on children's well-being are most obvious when it cemes to food. Childhood obesity has become a mayor health concern in the last decades. Studies show that this is due in part to the food marketing directed at kids. Television ads, child-targeted packaging, giveaways, product placement in video games, a. cross-promotion using popular cartoon chara. ers all influence the food and drink preferences—usually unhealthy—of young children. Under pressure from consumer advocates, some food companies have already taken things in ha., promising to scale back the marketing of unhealthy foods to children. This has had some effect, b. not enough. Studies of one maor children's television network show that since self-regulation policies have been in place, ads for unhealthy foods have decreased only slightly, from about 90 percent of total food ads to 80 percent. Mew industry leaders have also chocen to follow an agreed upon cet of nutrition standards, b. even these new standards are not strong enough. Many foods that are extremely high in sodium, fat, or sugar are still considered nutritious enough to advertise to kids. These strategies undertaken by companies on their own terms have been very important. But policemakers are also pursuing legal options, like limiting the use of toy-giveaways to promote unhealthy restaurant meals, prohibiting the marketing of unhealthy foods on school grounds a. putting out positive media messages that promote nutrition and consumer awareness. In Quebec measures that ban fast-food advertising to kids have resulted in a 13 percent drop in fast-food purchases and the lowest childhood obesity rate in Canada. Unfortunately, at-temp...halal regulation in the United States have often failed due to political a. legal obstacles. These are moves in the right direction, b. can we really wait around for advertisers to change their ways or for the government to step in? How do we protect young children from harmful advertising in the meantime?, a concerned older sist, I have taken it upon myself to help my little brother develop some resistance to marketing. Whenever he shows interest in a cemmercial, I ask him whether he thinks the product actually does what the advertisement claims. At first he was puzzled by the idea that anyone would nssreprecent a product on television. Wasn't everything he saw on TV the honest truth'? In language he could understand, I carefully explained that companies like the ones advertising on TV have to make money In order to make money, they have to get people to buy their products And to do that, they show advertisements that say the product is the best, the tastiest, the most exciting, or the longest-lasting But it isn't always true Now that these lessons have started to sink in, my brother often initiates the conversation himself, sometimes concluding that even a product he felt really excited about in the moment probably isn't worth the money after all He's learning that irs okay to question what people say, he doesnt have to take everything at face value. If more parents and mentors intervened to teach young children how to think critically about what they see on TV, in video games, and in magazines, we would be inoculating kids against the worst effects of marketing And we would be preparing them for a lifetime of better, heafter decision making.