ABSTRACT
Most American children begin viewing television even before they develop the physical ability to walk out the front door of their home. One-and 2-year olds watch television regularly (Barr & Hayne, 1999; Meltzoff, 1988), and more than a quarter (26%) of 2-to 4-year-olds have a television set in their bedroom (Roberts, Foehr, Rideout, & Brodie, 1999). Children aged 2 to 7 years average between 3.0 to 3.5 hours per day of television viewing, with most of that time spent watching commercially supported channels (Comstock & Scharrer, 1999; Roberts et al., 1999). Given that roughly 15% to 20% of all television content is devoted to commercial matter (Comstock & Scharrer, 1999), these data make it clear that children experience significant exposure to television advertising at very young ages, Such exposure raises sensitive issues because of the findings documented elsewhere in this volume (see chaps. 13, 15, & 16) about young children’s limited ability to recognize and defend against televised commercial persuasion.
