Commercials and Kids

I was reading a post from a favorite blogger, Karla, and she was talking about the commercials on Nick and her daughter wanting to send her gold jewelery in and get the cash to do something nice for her family. It started me thinking about how seriously kids take commercials.

Now, why exactly would Nickelodeon show a commercial for a company trying to buy your old gold jewels when the shows they play are targeted to children? And why would they show ads for things they know kids are going to want and then put the phone number up and say, "you must be 18 to call"? Don't they know that their shows are used sometimes for babysitting purposes and that 18-year-olds are not usually watching Nickelodeon. Or do they think that the kids are sitting there watching TV with their notepads and pencils in hand ready to jot down the 1-800 number for dear mom or dad to order that must-have thing for them?

Then there's Eli, my four-year-old nephew. He's Suz's little boy. He takes commercials VERY serious. I mean, really, really, serious. He mostly watches kids' television. It's not like they let him sit around and watch adult TV or anything. He occasionally will watch football or baseball or some other sporting event, but mostly it's children's stuff. Well, when Suz had a bump on her face, he asked her if she needed some Pro Active. Dead serious. Mom, do you need some Pro-Active? A commercial for car insurance comes on. Eli: (who is serious and concerned about anything and everything:) Mom, do we have car insurance? Suz: Yes. Eli: What's car insurance? I just don't understand the thinking of the advertising companies or the TV companies either. I think that maybe we are supposed to get a subliminal message from them. You know, your child is watching Sponge Bob in the living room. You're in the bathroom cleaning toilets. You hear the Pro Active commercial. You have a zit. Subliminally, you think, wow, I've got to get some of that stuff. I guess that must be how it works. What do y'all think?