Abstract
It has become obvious that advertising is designed to influence children. Advertising has an impact on their needs, their desire and their requests. How has it evolved in this way and what are the reasons of this interest for such a young audience? How can we define advertising? Advertising is an element of what we call the commercial communication. Different to marketing, which is defined as a strategy, advertising is a vehicle and a tool for sending a specific message to the target audience. Advertising is designed to inform about a product or service. To accomplish this goal, advertisers need to target the right people for the right product. They work on fulfilling conscious or unconscious needs that could arise in the minds of the consumers. According to the article 1 of the Television without Frontiers Directive, television shall not cause moral or physical detriment to minors, and shall therefore comply with the following criteria: a) it shall not directly exhort minors to buy a product or a service by exploiting their inexperience and credulity; b) it shall not directly encourage minors to persuade their parents or others to purchase the goods or services advertised; c) it shall not exploit the special trust minors place in parents, teachers or others persons; d) it shall not unreasonably show minors in dangerous situations.
